Weekend Box Office: Moana 2 has the biggest Thanksgiving weekend ever

The folks at the House of Mouse have a lot to celebrate this year, with them being able to lay claim to three of the highest-grossing movies of 2024. This summer, they had back-to-back smashes with Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine, and now Moana 2 just set a Thanksgiving record, making a jaw-dropping $135.5 million and $221 million over the five-day holiday according to Deadline. Yowza. That’s a crazy number for a movie that was retrofitted from a streaming series into a feature film and quite a turnaround for a company that was in the dog house in 2023 following a series of pricey flops. 

Our box office predictions were way off for Moana 2, which just grew and grew as the weekend went on. What’s doubly impressive is the fact that its success didn’t suck up all the air at the box office, with Universal’s Wicked having stellar holdover business, earning $80 million, which marks a modest 29% decline from its first weekend. That’s an impressive hold for a movie that opened as well as it did. It’s made over $262 million to date domestically and may be well on its way to a final gross in the $500 million range. That’s good news for Universal, as they have a sequel opening next Thanksgiving. 

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II came in hot in third place, with a $30.7 million weekend, marking a modest 44% week-to-week decline. It’s made about $111 million so far, with it likely to pass $200 million domestically. Whether or not it’ll make enough to merit a Gladiator III all depends on the global box office take, but it will still rank as one of the highest-grossing historical epics ever made. 

Dwayne Johnson’s other movie in theaters, Red One, had an excellent hold this weekend, with it only dipping 2% to $12.8 million and a $76 million total. It’ll easily cross the $100 million mark, and while that’s pretty low considering its $200 million-plus budget, it’ll for sure be a blockbuster when it hits Prime Video, which should happen before Christmas. 

Another holiday flick, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, managed an excellent hold, with it adding 2% this weekend for a $3.27 million weekend and a $32 million total. That’s a good number for a low-budget, faith-based film, and it will soon become Lionsgate’s highest-grossing movie of the year. That’s a rare win for a studio with a particularly horrible 2024.

Lower down the chart, Angel Studios’s Bonhoeffer lost a large chunk of its audience, with it making $2.4 million – a 60% decline from week one. The faith-based audience likely opted to see the more uplifting Best Christmas Pageant Ever instead. Its total domestic haul is just under $10 million. Venom: The Last Dance made $2.2 million in seventh place for a $137 million haul, which is disappointing for a superhero film but not disastrous either. Globally, it’s closing in on the $500 million mark. It will likely finish its run slightly ahead of Venom: Let There Be Carnage at the global box office, although that film was hampered by the pandemic.

In eighth place, A24’s Heretic continued to perform well, making $956K for a $26 million total. It might be able to crawl to $30 million. The Wild Robot is starting to wrap up its run in ninth place, making $670K, adding to its $142 million-plus total. A Real Pain rounded out the top ten, with $848k and a $6.1 million total. A low-budget charmer, this one should find a solid audience when it streams on Hulu sometime in the next few months.

Next weekend promises to be relatively quiet in terms new releases, so don’t expect much movement in the top five. What did you see this holiday weekend? Let us know in the comments!