In the smash hit category, Disney’s absolutely terrific animated crowd pleaser Moana topped the Thanksgiving weekend box office, grabbing around $80 million for the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend. That’s not quite the $93 million that Frozen fetched on the same weekend three years ago, but it’s good for second or third best Thanksgiving weekend of all time, depending on where it shakes out when final numbers come in (Toy Story 2 grossed $80.1 million on Thanksgiving weekend in 1999). With no other animated fare in the pipeline this month, Moana should continue to put up huge numbers both domestically and internationally. It will soar throughout December based on strong word of mouth and impeccable reviews (it sits at 100 percent among Top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes), and the superb songs of Lin-Manuel Miranda will probably be on heavy rotation throughout the winter. It will almost certainly win the Oscar for Best Animated film, and may even be one of the few animated films to receive a Best Picture Oscar. It’s that good, an almost perfect Disney film.
The big numbers for Moana didn’t slow down Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There were concerns last weekend that its $75 million debut wasn’t good enough to launch a franchise, but those concerns should be put to rest after what looks like a $65 million haul for the long weekend. It also passed the $350 million mark worldwide after 10 days and, like Moana, it should continue to perform well until the release of Rogue One on the 16th.
Meanwhile, Doctor Strange will add nearly another $20 million, putting it over the $200 million mark domestically. It should pass Thor: The Dark World for ninth all-time among MCU films by next week.
It was not great news for Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard’s well-made snoozer, Allied, which will end the weekend with around $18 million, which wouldn’t be so bad were it not for the fact that the film cost $85 million to make. It won’t fetch even half of that domestically and will need a huge push internationally to break even.
Bad Santa 2, one of the worst movies I’ve seen this year, earned more than it deserved, although that wasn’t very much. The film banked $8.5 million over the five-day holiday weekend. Bad reviews and poor word of mouth should usher it out of crowded theaters soon, if only so that Disney can add more screens for Moana.
The sleeper hit of the fall looks like Arrival, which continues to perform strongly with adult audiences. It add another $15+ million this weekend, and crossed $62 million after 17 days. Awards consideration for Amy Adams should also keep the smart and hopeful sci-fi flick around for much of December.
There are several great indie movies this fall that aren’t putting up huge numbers, but deserve to be seen. The release schedule will be relatively quiet for the next two weeks, so consider catching Edge of Seventeen ($10 million cumulative); Jeff Nichol’s Loving ($4 million cum); and Moonlight ($8.5 million cum).
Finally, the week’s bomb was Warren Beatty’s first film as director since 1998’s Bulworth and first as an actor since 2001’s Town & Country (one of the biggest bombs in box-office history). The poorly reviewed Rules Don’t Apply looks like it will end the five-day weekend with slightly more than $2 million, which will put it among the top 10 worst openings ever for a film released in 2000 screens or more.
