‘Moana 2’ Eyes $12M+ Disney Thanksgiving Preview Record, ‘Wicked’ $16M+

EXCLUSIVE: We’re not even past Thanksgiving and the box office is already bursting at the seams. Tonight I hear Disney is rated PG Moana 2which started previews at 14.00, is on its way to approx $12 million+ today. It’s a massive pre-Thanksgiving preview record for House of Mouse, beating the previous champion in 2018 Ralph breaks the internet with an exorbitant amount of money (the sequel cost $3.8 million). Tonight’s dollars are rolled into Wednesday’s dough. The sequel is expected to have a Thanksgiving 5-day opening record $125M-$135M. Disney did not return requests for comment on tonight’s estimates. In fact, no studies did.

Reviews of the Dwayne Johnson and Auli’i Cravalho reteam are 69% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, which is below the 77% certified fresh by Frozen II. Deadline critic Dessi Gomez exclaimed: “Moana 2 makes a satisfying splash as a sequel.”

Remember, that’s discount Tuesday, combined with the fact that 48% K-12 schools and 20% high schools are off today per Comscore. Hence the big business.

Meanwhile, Universal’s Evil, despite its 2 hours and 40 minutes running time to Moana 2‘s 100 minute weigh-in, continues to sweep up, heading for a $16M-$17M Tuesday, up 8% from November’s record of 15.8 million. USD Monday. As for Tuesdays in November, the Jon M. Chu-directed title appears to be the second best at the moment behind Disney’s Frozen 2 which made $20.7m. on 26 November 2019.

At the high end, the running total of the Ariana Grande-Cynthia Erivo star title will stand $145.2 million Before the end of the weekend, these witches must surely bury The greatest showman‘s domestic total of $174.3M. Heck, tomorrow they’ll be the highest-grossing Universal adaptation of a Broadway musical at the domestic BO overhaul Les Misérables‘ $149.2 million. Already, Evil has surpassed the state’s final totals by Into the forest ($128 million) and both Mamma Mia! ($144.3m and $120.6m domestic). Broadway musicals are not dead.

Paramounts Gladiator II is +25% currently from Monday’s $5.5m $7 million take. It will tie the Ridley Scott epic’s domestic record $67.6 million. Remember, it’s not just about attracting older men, but older women too. That means that’s the total date night movie for the next few weeks.

For those keeping score, the biggest Thanksgiving five-day Wednesday-Sunday of 2018 belongs to Ralph breaks the internet led, and that period totaled $315.6 million. per Comscore.