The biggest hit of Thanksgiving turned out to be “Vaiana 2”, the sequel to the animated Disney hit. The film grossed an impressive $57.5 million on its opening day. which already places it among the best openings for animation. It is expected to earn between $175 million and $200 million in its first five days of showings, which would break Thanksgiving records set by “Frozen II” ($125 million) and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” ($109 million). .
Globally, “Vaiana 2” has already earned $66.3 million. Critics have rated it an average of 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, but viewers are much more enthusiastic – CinemaScore gave the film an A-. The return of Dwayne Johnson and Auli Cravalho in the main roles certainly had an impact on this, although it is worth noting that Lin-Manuel Miranda, the author of the iconic songs from the first part, did not create new songs. The music was composed by the duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, known from “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical”.
Just behind “Moaana 2” was “Wicked”, an adaptation of the Broadway musical by Universal. The film earned $20.4 million, and forecasts indicate that five-day revenues will amount to as much as $97 million. The production, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, is already widely advertised – from Starbucks to Lego sets – and arouses great emotions. The first part of the two-part Oz story promises to be a financial hit that will recoup the production costs of $300 million.
“Gladiator II”, the continuation of the classic epic from 2000, achieved slightly lower, but still solid results. The film earned $6.6 million on Wednesday, with projections calling for $40 million in the five-day window. With a cast including Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington and a huge budget of $250 million, the film has a lot to prove. Despite everything, fans of the return to the Colosseum are filling cinema halls.
See also: Why go to the cinema? Disney or maybe Irish hop-hop?