“Moana 2” is shaping as much as be one among Walt Disney Animation Studios’ biggest wave riders ever.
The animated musical in regards to the Polynesian sea princess introduced in a home Thanksgiving haul of $28 million — the biggest Turkey Day bounty ever, in accordance with studio estimates launched Friday.
And the wave continues to develop. “Moana 2,” that includes the voices of Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, might in the end gross as a lot as $200 million in ticket gross sales through the five-day vacation. That would shatter the earlier Thanksgiving weekend file set by Disney’s “Frozen 2,” which fell to $125 million throughout its second weekend on the field workplace in 2019.
In simply two days, “Moana 2” generated $85.5 million in home ticket gross sales, in accordance with studio estimates. Including worldwide markets, the sequel to the 2016 hit has grossed over $109 million.
The unique “Moana,” additionally launched over Thanksgiving weekend, grossed $81 million. It in the end grossed $643 million in ticket gross sales globally earlier than turning into one of many largest streaming film hits of all time.
Disney’s newest blockbuster has prolonged a welcome field workplace restoration for Hollywood studios on the finish of a bumpy yr. Hollywood studios and executives have skilled a sequence of cold and warm film releases, compounding business woes from delays attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic and final yr’s double labor strikes by actors and writers.
As of final weekend, home distributors have generated about $400 million in triple menace ticket gross sales of “Moana 2,” Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” and Paramount Pictures’ “Gladiator II,” in accordance with Comscore.
Those three movies mixed to generate $340 million in ticket gross sales as of Nov. 22, Comscore mentioned.
Once once more, Disney confirmed off its cinematic and advertising magic. “Moana 2” was initially conceived as a Disney+ streaming sequence, however after Disney CEO Bob Iger returned from retirement two years in the past, Burbank executives reevaluated the studio’s improvement and launch technique.
Disney had spectacular stats to attract on: “Moana” was the most-streamed film on Disney+ and was the No. 1 streaming film. 1 amongst all companies final yr, in accordance with Nielsen.
For months, Disney executives remained quiet about their plans, till the massive reveal in early February, when the studio introduced that “Moana 2” would hit theaters on Thanksgiving.
The movie, which had a price range of practically $200 million, arrives when moviegoers crave participating household fare and flicks that final below two hours. (“Moana 2” runs 1 hour and 40 minutes.)
Trailers for “Moana 2” had been proven often throughout Disney’s earlier blockbuster, “Inside Out 2,” which served to whet audiences’ appetites for Moana’s newest musical journey.
“All the celebs aligned to make this the field workplace phenomenon that it’s,” mentioned Disney’s head of theatrical distribution, Tony Chambers.
The movie is directed by David Derrick Jr., co-directed by Jason Hand and options music by Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear, Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina. The sequel was produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios at its Vancouver and Burbank places.
