By: Chad W. Shreeves

With the holidays in full swing, audiences chose to spend the five day weekend at the theaters. With Disney’s major release ‘Moana 2’ as well as the strong holdovers ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ in tow. In total, the three juggernauts propelled the weekend to the single greatest Thanksgiving weekend in cinema history.

Disney’s ‘Moana 2’ led the pack with a powerhouse $135.5 million for the weekend, and a grand total of $225 million over the five day. The animated musical sequel generated strong word of mouth, if mixed reviews. The film, originally slated as a Disney+ miniseries, overcame high bars. Many set by Disney itself such as ‘Frozen II’ and Lionsgate’s ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’. Both of which were previous Thanksgiving record holders.

Universal Pictures’ ‘Wicked’ fell to second, but still an impressive showing for a film’s second weekend. Raking in $80 million over the weekend and $117 million through the five days is an impressive feat. The Broadway adaptation rode a wave of momentum following extremely high critic ratings and audience ratings. The film is also one of the most trending topics among all social media platforms. Bringing its worldwide box office to $359 million, becoming one of the biggest musical adaptations of all time, and is expected to grow larger throughout the Christmas season.

Close on the heels of ‘Wicked’ is Ridley Scott’s epic ‘Gladiator II’. Raking in a total of $30 million, which itself is only $25 million less than its opening, the R-Rated violent film found a strong audience on the word of mouth and nostalgia for the 2000 Russel Crowe drama. The film has climbed to $320 million worldwide after a surge of support in the global markets.

Rounding out the top five is the critically and audience panned Dwayne Johnson Christmas film ‘Red One’ and the faith based holiday film ‘The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever.’ Both failed to gain a strong foothold, but still managed to compete in the very crowded holiday weekend.

The outlook for the next weekend looks strong for all of them, with no competitive release. While A24’s ‘Y2K’ and Crunchyroll’s ‘Solo Leveling: ReAwakening’ will get some attention, it’s predicted ‘Moana 2’, ‘Wicked’, and ‘Gladiator II’ will compete again for the top spots. The next major release will not be until Warner Bros’ ‘Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim’ on December 13, followed by Paramount’s ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ and Disney’s ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ on December 20.

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