The animated film Moana 2 won the US Box Office on the classic Thanksgiving weekend, and it did it with a series of records.

Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios

Despite the presence of sumptuous parades, Black Friday and family ceremonies based on turkey, the American box office of 2024 will be remembered forever thanks to the new animated film by Walt Disney Animation. In fact, the overall haul of the US Box Office is estimated around the record figure of 420 million dollars (source Deadline), and guess who deserves the credit? Data in hand, Moana 2 grossed 135.5 million dollars in the classic three days of the weekend (Friday-Sunday), and an “estimated” total in the five days of Thanksgiving 221 million (from Wednesday to Sunday). If the data is confirmed - and it certainly will be - the sequel to Moana will set two records:


  • Best Opening Weekend for a Walt Disney Animation Film (beating Frozen with $130.3 million)

  • Best Thanksgiving Weekend in five days

  • But be careful because the records broken throughout the weekend are many more:

  • Best Overall Five-Day Box Office (beating Super Mario Bros with $204.6 million)

  • Best Overall Thanksgiving Day Box Office with $28 million (beating Frozen 2 with $15 million)

  • Best Overall Black Friday Box Office with $54.5 million (beating Frozen 2 with $34.2 million)

  • Best Overall Preview Box Office for a Walt Disney Animation Film with $13.8 million


Internationally, Moana 2 grossed $165.3 million for a global total of $300.8 million (becoming 386.3 million with data from the days leading up to the current weekend. Again, the data collected represents new records:

  • Best opening weekend for animated films in countries such as France, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Nigeria, Serbia and Turkey

  • Best opening weekend ever for a Walt Disney Animation film in Latin America and in France, Italy, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico, as well as the Netherlands, Poland, Bahrain, Egypt, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Central America, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, and Uruguay


“Moana 2 far exceeded our lofty expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that ‘Moana’ has become,” said Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman. “We are fortunate to have an incredibly talented and hardworking creative team at Disney Animation to bring this new adventure to life, along with our wonderful stars Auli’i and Dwayne and the amazing new music. This is a moment to celebrate and we are grateful for all the viewers and fans who helped make this a record-breaking debut.”


US Box Office | Other Films’ Box Office

Aside from Moana 2’s record-breaking numbers, the American box office had a good time over Thanksgiving weekend with other films in the program. Wicked sealed the second spot with a gross of $80 million ($117.5 million in five days), for $262.4 million. Gladiator 2 took in another $30.7 million over the weekend ($44 million in five days), for a total of $111.2 million.


Gladiator 2 | Our Review

Again, Uno Rosso, in fourth position, has grossed another 12.89 million dollars (18.7 million in five days), for a total of 76 million; in fifth position, finally, the comedy La più mirabolante recite di Natale has collected another 3.27 million dollars (4.85 million in five days), for a total of 32 million.