Disney, Universal take over Thanksgiving box office

Disney and Universal films have taken over the Thanksgiving box office as audiences flocked to theatres to watch them on major holidays.

According to Variety, figures reported about Disney’s “Zootopia 2” delivered a commanding $156 million over the five-day holiday period across 4,000 North American theatres, including $96.8 million from Friday to Sunday.

This marks the second-highest Thanksgiving opening in history, trailing only 2024’s “Moana 2” and surpassing the earlier Thanksgiving debut of “Frozen II”.

The International revenue for “Zootopia 2” proved even more impressive. According to  Variety reports, the film earned $400 million overseas, led by a record $272 million opening in China, bringing its global launch to $556 million, one of the biggest worldwide openings ever. Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman credited the film’s success to its broad appeal and the work of its creative team.

On the other hand, Universal’s “Wicked: For Good” now in its second weekend, contributed another strong performance with $93 million domestically. While the sequel’s hold is softer compared to last year’s first “Wicked” film, Variety notes that the latest instalment has already generated $270.4 million in North America and $393.3 million worldwide after ten days.

Despite the strong showings, the overall holiday box office of approximately $293 million across all films fell short of 2024’s record-setting Thanksgiving weekend. Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian highlighted the importance of the holiday frame, calling the results encouraging after a challenging post-summer season.

Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, “Zootopia 2” has benefited from a strong critical reception, an “A” CinemaScore from audiences and a lack of recent family-oriented releases. Its popularity in China is bolstered by the recent opening of Zootopia Land at Shanghai Disneyland. Analyst David A. Gross stated that China has been difficult for US films in recent years, making the film’s performance particularly noteworthy.

Two independent releases also debuted over Thanksgiving. A24’s “Eternity”, starring Elizabeth Olsen, opened with $3.1 million over the weekend and $5.2 million across five days, while Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” collected $880,000 from just 119 theaters over the weekend and $1.35 million since Wednesday. “Hamnet,” featuring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, is expected to be a major awards contender.

Meanwhile, Netflix’s theatrical preview of “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” earned an estimated $4 million from 600 locations. As Rubin notes, the film is not showing at the largest theater chains and will debut on Netflix next month.

Domestic box office revenue for the year has now reached $7.5 billion, sitting just above 2024 levels. Analysts suggest upcoming titles including “Zootopia 2,” “Wicked: For Good,” and December’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash”  will be crucial as the industry attempts to push total grosses beyond $9 billion.

Dergarabedian notes that with just a few weeks left in the year, December’s packed release slate will need consistent turnout to meet that goal.