The moral of the story for the Thanksgiving box office is, “It’s good to be Disney.” The studio not only won the weekend outright with a stellar launch for the animated featureMoana, but also scored a new record for the continued box office of Marvel Studios’Doctor Strange.
Moanagrossed an estimated $81.1 million for the five-day holiday, which ranks as the second-highest Thanksgiving debut ever behindFrozen, which hit $93.6 million over the five-day holiday in 2013. What’s even more impressive is that Disney now basicallyownsThanksgiving, as the studio holds the records for the top six 5-day Thanksgiving debuts of all time as well as the top eight 3-day Thanksgiving debuts of all time.Moana’s three-day weekend gross was $55.5 million.
And with regards to Marvel Studios’Doctor Strange, distributed by Disney, the superhero pic pulled in $13.4 million over the three-day weekend and $18.9 million for the five-day corridor, which brings its global box office tally to over $600 million in four weeks of release. That means it has surpassed the lifetime box office ofThe Incredible Hulk($263M),Captain America: The First Avenger($371M),Thor($449M),Ant-Man($520M), andIron Man($585), which means it has set the record for the largest box office for any single-character superhero launch from Marvel Studios. It has also surpassed the domestic totals for all of those films except forIron Man, so yeah, you could sayBenedict Cumberbatch’s hero is gonna be sticking around for a while.
But in non-Disney box office news, the big winner wasFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. TheHarry Potterprequel and franchise-starter dipped just 39% in its second weekend, scoring $45.1 million to bring its total to $156 million thus far. Repeat business and word-of-mouth seem to be keeping the film afloat, which is good news sinceJ.K. Rowlingplans on writing fiveFantastic Beastsmovies in all withFantastic Beasts 2already set for release in November 2018.
In terms of new releases,Warren Beatty’s dramaRules Don’t Apply—which opened wide—is a box office disaster. It’s the lowest-grossing debut of 2016 with a mere $1.5 million for the weekend, scoring only a $661 per theater average. Perhaps a limited release would have suited the launch better?
Bad Santa 2didn’t faretoomuch better, as the comedy sequel brought in $6.1 million over the weekend to bring its five-day total to $9 million. And theBrad Pitt&Marion Cotillard-fronted World War II thrillerAlliedopened to an estimated $18 million for the five-day frame.
Check out the full Top 10 estimates below.
$55,523,000
$81,108,000
Fantastic Beasts
$45,100,000
$156,228,123
Doctor Strange
$13,369,000
$205,093,475
$13,000,000
$18,022,000
$11,250,000
$62,387,300
$10,340,000
$135,136,662
Almost Christmas
$7,610,000
$36,688,865
Bad Santa 2
$6,106,648
$9,031,191
Hacksaw Ridge
$5,450,000
$52,248,382
The Edge of Seventeen
$2,960,000
$10,273,770
