‘Moana 2’ is making its way through box office history. How the animated sequel did it.

Thanksgiving was particularly bountiful at the box office this year, thanks in no small part to Disney’s record-breaking performance Moana 2.

The sequel to the original 2016 animated film, starring Auli’i Cravalho as the voice of the titular Polynesian wayfinder (don’t call her princess!) who this time goes on a quest with demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) to remove a curse to break. not only posted the highest Thanksgiving Day debut of all time, with $28 million – nearly doubling the 2019 premiere Frozen 2 – but also the highest Thanksgiving weekend of all time, the highest five-day opening of all time in the US and the highest reported global animated opening weekend of all time.

If the original film asked “How Far I’ll Go,” the sequel answered with the battle cry “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?” and a spectacular $389 million internationally over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday and weekend, bringing the U.S. box office to a cool $424 million, the biggest grosser ever for the holiday and a much-needed boost overall.

“Moana 2 far exceeded our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that Moana has become,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have an incredibly talented and hardworking creative team at Disney Animation who have brought this new adventure to life, along with our incredible stars Auli’i and Dwayne and great new music. This is a moment to celebrate, and we are grateful to all the moviegoers and fans who helped make this a record-setting debut.”

This mega-release comes during a holiday season packed with blockbuster films Bad And Gladiator II also does monster business in American cinemas. With Universals Wizard of Oz a remake of Paramount Pictures’ Roman Empire fight fest, which has grossed more than $111 million since their joint “Glicked” debut on Nov. 22, grossing more than $262 million, Moana 2 has created a perfect storm at the box office by adding a whopping $225.2 million to the mix.

“The biggest highlight of all of this is that we just experienced the biggest domestic Thanksgiving box office period in history, which in itself is incredible,” Jordan Hohman, vice president of project development at Phoenix Theaters, told Yahoo Entertainment. “And last week, the last full box office week was the biggest box office week in the United States since ‘Barbenheimer’ last summer.”

As the three blockbusters converged on multiplexes, the trio seemed to pull off a hat trick at the box office instead of cannibalizing each other.

“You have what we call counter-programming here, filling all these different niches,” Hohman explained, “whether it’s adults seeing films like Gladiator [II] or Bador families who come to watch movies like Moana [2].”

Daniel Loria, senior vice president of the Boxoffice Company, a theatrical data and analytics service, called the results extraordinary.

“Movie theaters across the country responded to consumer demand by allocating 75% of all showtimes in the United States to Moana 2, Bad And Gladiator IIAccording to our records,” Loria said in a statement.

Disney is no stranger to Thanksgiving bounties at the box office. The studio now has the top seven Thanksgiving debuts of all time and nine of the top 10. Those blockbusters also include Frozen, Toy Story 2, Coco, Tangled, Moana and now Moana 2.

Many theater owners anticipated the success of the Polynesian-themed sequel, which was originally intended as a TV series to stream on Disney+ during the height of pandemic programming. A shift in strategy to reprioritize theatrical performances over streaming was a gamble that paid off — for both Disney and theaters.

However, MoanaThe streaming presence helped build buzz for the sequel. The original 2016 film, which also stars Cravalho and Johnson in the same voice roles, with music by the Tony-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda (who did not return for the sequel), has enjoyed continued success on Disney+ since it hit the streaming platform. in 2019. Moana has since grown into a streaming giant, with more than 1 billion hours watched, making it the No. 1 streamed movie of all time, according to Nielsen.

“It’s just one of these films that has really attracted a larger audience over the years. The first one was very well received,” Hohman said. “There are many families who have made this part of their movie collection.”

Brian Schultz, CEO of Look Cinemas, told Yahoo Entertainment Moana 2 appealed to multiple target demographics.

“It built on the first story, had good music and was just really entertaining,” he said.

Because of MoanaThanks to the built-in audience and tracking and pre-sale numbers, theater owners prepared for a major success by ‘eventifying’ the film – just as many had done Bad And Gladiator II.

“We had a cocktail for both of us Gladiator And Badand then we had special popcorn for it Moana for kids,” Schultz said, noting that his theaters ranked at the top Moana popcorn orders with gummy bears. “We try to organize almost all the food and drink offerings.”

Other multiplexes such as B&B Theaters are offered Moana-themed mocktails with coconut and cherry flavors for children or those who choose not to drink. Phoenix Theaters also sold one Moanatheme blanket at concession stands that doubled as a hula skirt.

While the Thanksgiving holiday box office provided a healthy financial boost, partially offsetting a slow start to the year that itself followed the twin actors and writers strikes of 2023, many theater owners seem optimistic about 2025, as long as the content is of high quality. .

“A lot of media thinks that the movie theater industry is some kind of rotting or dying industry, and that’s really not the case,” Schultz said, “but we do need great content and great stories.”

With movies like Disney’s Mufasa: The Lion King and Paramount Pictures’ Sonic the Hedgehog 3 just around the corner, Hohman is also optimistic.

“As we approach 2025,” he said, “I think we all have a lot of confidence in what’s to come.”