‘Moana 2’, ‘Wicked’ & ‘Gladiator II’ Driving Record Post Thanksgiving Frame Near $132M – Sunday AM Update

SUNDAY AM WRITETHRU: Refresh for chart and more analysis What’s the trick to keeping the post-Thanksgiving period alive? Great holdovers from the holiday weekend before.

One of the dullest box office periods historically of the year is not in 2024 with all films grossing $132M, the best this frame has ever seen. That surpasses the previous record back in 2018 when all movies totaled $120M. And that’s because this weekend is powered by Moana 2 ($52M, still a record for a No. 1 movie in this corridor), Wicked ($34.8M, higher than the $32M+ we spotted) and Gladiator II ($12.4M).

More to celebrate: Moana 2 at $600M worldwide, just pased the lifetime global of the first movie’s $582M.

It’s not like any major studio dared to launch a tentpole this weekend, a la Warner Bros. back in 2003 with Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai ($24.2M). Genre has typically worked here in a niche form, but not this year as A24’s Rachel Zegler-led Y2K is blipping out with a $2.1M opening and a C- CinemaScore. While arthouse distribs like NEON and A24 have low thresholds for success, and this Kyle Mooney-directed horror comedy cost under $15M, $2M+ isn’t anything to brag about — if it gets there. And it’s certainly not good for Zegler. Over the summer, NEON opened the Hunter Schafer movie Cuckoo to $3M, with a $6.2M final. The point is that Zegler has been in bigger movies a la The Hunger Games prequel and the Oscar-winning West Side Story; meaning she’s the poster face to sell those films. The movie is booked at 2,108 theaters, and if there was a time to release this film, it was now as there won’t be any screens come Christmas with Mufasa and Sonic the Hedgehog 3.

Social media diagnostics on Y2K per RelishMix had a reach of 35.1M across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X and Facebook — 21% below the pre-opening social media stats of first installment horror movies. Y2K‘s social media universe is less than Cuckoo (52.9M), Tarot (88.6M, $6.5M opening, $18.7M final) and NEON’s indie smash Longlegs (135.1M), which the Film Independent Spirits greatly dissed earlier this week. Some of the negative chatter that RelishMix spotted for Y2K on social included those “unimpressed by the style or plot with fans who express their struggle with their loyalty of A24. ‘A24 just continues to miss lately. This is some stuff I’d expect from Blumhouse. NEON has taken the throne for coolest studio I’m afraid.’ With a narrative ingrained in the nostalgia of the ’90s, others are disappointed with its creative decisions: ‘When will filmmakers understand that a ’90s/2000s project should never be filmed on digital.’”

Exits on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak were also bad for the Mooney movie at 65% positive and a 50% recommend. It was overall male leaning at 58%, with the 18-24 year olds at 35% and the 25-34 year olds at 42%. Diversity demos were 50% Caucasian, 27% Latino and Hispanic, 10% Black, 9% Asian American and 5% Native American/other. Any business for Y2K is coming from the West, East and South Central with LA’s AMC The Grove the top grossing venue with a paltry $8K.  

Indian sequel, Pushpa 2 – The Rule at 1,245 theaters is still seeing a five-day of $10M. The movie is rallying in Dallas, Toronto, Austin, DC, Charlotte, Seattle, NYC, Atlanta, San Francisco and Chicago.

Doing double the amount of business than Y2K is Paramount’s Imax re-release of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar with $4.4M at 165 locations with a massive $26,8K theater average, arguably the best domestic re-release (non-awards related) start for the filmmaker. We often hear news about Nolan re-releases in Imax (i.e. Tenet), but then there aren’t any grosses reported. It pays to double down on Nolan re-releases, because clearly there’s some sort of business here.

How the large-format shakes out this weekend: PLFs are still being split by Moana 2 and Wicked and some for Gladiator II as well. Imax auditoriums are showing all three with the addition of Interstellar, of course.

Vertical’s Jude Law 1970s crime thriller The Order is doing around $888K this weekend at 603 theaters with Briarcliff Entertainment’s Frank Grillo-led Werewolves seeing $1.2M at 1,351 sites. Both are falling flat. The Justin Kurzel-directed The Order follows Law as an FBI agent displaced in the Pacific Northwest. All seems quiet, however, there’s a string of bank robberies orchestrated by a domestic terrorist group.

CHART UPDATING, updated figures indicated by inclusion of Saturday and Sunday broken out:

Notables:

The Order (Vert) 603 theaters, Fri $444K Sat $250K Sun $188K, 3-day $888K/Wk 1

 Laufey’s A Night at the Symphony: Hollywood Bowl (Traf) 406 theaters, Fri $488K, Sat $89K Sun $268K, 3-day $845k/Wk 1

Anora (NEON) 123 (-107) theaters Fri $55K Sat $77K Sun $54K 3-day $186K (-52%), Total $13.1M/Wk 8

FRIDAY PM: For all the chatter in years past about people getting distracted by holiday stuff, if there’s one thing that’s on their list this weekend, it’s going to the movies.

Disney’s Moana 2 will see a second weekend of $55M-$60M, the most any No. 1 movie has seen during the historically ratcheted down post-Thanksgiving period. Again, anything over Frozen 2‘s post-Thanksgiving frame take of $35.1M back in 2019 is a record No. 1 take for this frame. This is after a second Friday that’s in the vicinity of $11M-$12M, which will get the sequel past the 2016’s original’s final stateside cume of $248.7M. Second frame is -57% to -60% from pic’s opening weekend of $139.7M.

Both Moana 2 and Wicked are expected to cross $300M this weekend, the latter sooner than the former. The highest grossing Broadway musical of all-time at the domestic box office will hit $300M sometime on Saturday while Moana 2 should cross by EOD Sunday. Moana 2 is booked at 4,200 theaters while Wicked is at 3,885 theaters.

The Jon M. Chu directed Ariana Grande-Cynthia Erivo Wicked is looking at a third Friday of $9.25M, for a third weekend of $31.7M, -61%. As we told you yesterday, Wicked won Thursday and Wednesday over Moana 2. Wicked‘s Thursday number this AM was $4.78M.

Third place goes to Paramount’s Gladiator II at 3,440 theaters with a third Friday of $3.45M at 3,450 locations, $12.3M third weekend, -60%, for a running total of $132.5M.

Making waves in fourth place is Prathyangira Cinemas’ Pushpa 2 – The Rule at 1,245 theaters. The movie, which included Wednesday previews, beat Moana 2 yesterday for second place with $4.5M, the latter settling at $4.2M. Outlook for the Indian action gangster cop sequel is a $5.6M 3-day with a $10.1M four-day run by EOD Sunday.

Fifth goes to the fourth weekend of Amazon MGM Studios’ Red One at 3,150 theaters which is shaping up for a $1.5M Friday and 3-day of $5.5M, -57%, for a running total of $84.2M.

A24’s Kyle Mooney directed, Rachel Zegler starring horror comedy Y2K is eyeing $1.1M today after $300K in previews last night for a $2M+ opening. Yikes, that’s low for the hipster cinema brand. The movie cost under $15M.

Don’t dismiss Paramount’s 10th anniversary re-release of Chistopher Nolan’s Interstellar which at 165 locations is putting up $1.6M today for a $4.77M 3-day; people, that’s a $28,9K theater average. The original Matthew McConaughey movie ended its domestic run at $188M.