After a few years of doom and gloom, the box office received a big boost this past holiday weekend. While Gladiator II has a cost issue to overcome, it is still contributing to a decent cash flow. Over the top of this, you have some pretty big cinema events happening around it. It has all added up to a good time for some studios at the box office.
Leading the charge this weekend was Disney’s Moana 2. It blew straight through projections for a $386.3 million worldwide opening, with a five-day Thanksgiving debut which beat the previous record holder (Frozen 2, in case you are wondering).
Outside of the US, it was the second-highest opening weekend of the year-to-date behind only Deadpool & Wolverine.
The only place it wasn’t #1 on release? China.
The other half of this cinematic one-two punch is Wicked, which now stands at $360 million worldwide in its second weekend. Thanksgiving delivered another $117 million domestically. It is doing way more business in the US than overseas right now.
Gladiator II is at $320 million in its third weekend. Red One looks like it will cost Amazon some serious money and not the outcome Jennifer Salke, as Head Of Amazon Studios, would have wanted. According to Box Office Mojo it is sitting at just $148 million in worldwide box office against a rumored budget of $250 million.