‘Wicked’, ‘Gladiator II’ and ‘Moana 2’ run a historic Thanksgiving box office

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  • ‘Wicked’, ‘Gladiator II’ and ‘Moana 2’ are all in theaters this Thanksgiving weekend.

  • The three films could bring in more box office sales than pre-pandemic Thanksgiving weekends.

  • ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ hit theaters on November 22, and “Moana 2” premiered on November 27.

This Thanksgiving box office line-up will be the most successful in the post-pandemic era – and may be one of the most successful in history.

It started on November 22 when “Evil“and”Gladiator II” premiered in cinemas.

“Wicked,” directed by Jon M. Chu, is based on one of Broadway’s longest-running shows. Fans have been waiting for the film adaptation since the musical first hit the stage in 2003.

“Gladiator II” is a sequel to the original film, released in 2000.

The films topped the box office opening weekend. “Gladiator II” earned $106 million at the box office, while “Wicked” brought in $164 million. “Wicked” also had a higher opening weekend than any other film based on a Broadway show.

“Moana 2,” the sequel to the 2016 Disney film, hit theaters on Nov. 27 — the first day of the five-day Thanksgiving weekend. It’s expected to gross between $135 million and $145 million, per Black.

In 2016, “Moana” topped the Thanksgiving weekend box office with $81 million in ticket sales.

“The trifecta of ‘Moana 2,’ ‘Wicked,’ and ‘Gladiator II’ is a bona fide perfect storm for movie theaters this Thanksgiving,” Fandango analytics director and Box Office Theory founder Shawn Robbins told CNBC. He predicted that the 2024 Thanksgiving weekend box office would surpass the $200 million made in 2019 — and be among the most lucrative in movie history.

“This era used to regularly see major releases combine to appeal to all audiences, but that has been a challenge for the industry to replicate in the post-pandemic era so far,” he told CNBC. “This year is very different with such a holy trinity of tentpole releases that could anchor some of the biggest all-around box office results the holiday frame has ever seen.”

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