Hey, here’s a shocker: Disney’s Frozen 2 is the biggest movie of the weekend and it’s not even close.
Frozen 2 made a mammoth $127 million this weekend, trouncing all other competition and setting a record high in several ways. This is the biggest animated debut in November and the biggest opening ever for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film. It’s the third-biggest animated debut of all time and the biggest opening for a Disney film not released during Summer. You keeping up?
The cartoon also did serious business overseas, where it brought in $223 million and opened at number one in all the 37 territories it premiered in. Its $223 million means Frozen 2 is also the biggest animated global opening ever, beating the $153 million set by, surprisingly, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.
So, yeah, things are going well for Frozen 2. We all knew the movie was going to shatter records and beat the pants off of all the other movies in November but, damn, you can’t help but be impressed. There is a lot of competition coming up in the weeks ahead including Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker but Frozen 2 will be there to take on all comers and continue to rake in the dough. And Disney will be laughing all the way to the bank because no matter if Frozen 2 or Star Wars wins the season, they’ll still be the ones shoveling up the cash. These Disney people, they know how to make the money.
The rest of the chart came together as expected. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood met expectations, coming in at number three with $13.5 million. Expect good legs with that picture as the more adult crowd continues to turn out for this movie in the weeks ahead, especially in the coming days during Thanksgiving. Ford V Ferrari held strong at number two, surprising no one. Expect that one to also stick around for a bit since audiences are loving every second of it. 21 Bridges clocked in at number four, which isn’t anything to write home about but better than it could have been. Elsewhere, Charlie’s Angels barely hung to life at number eight. It’s made just shy of $14 million in two weeks, nowhere near the sort of numbers some had hoped for when the film was announced. Surprisingly, The Good Liar kept it together at number seven, pushing its modest total to $11,765,794. See, old people DO like movies!
But the queen of the week was Frozen 2 and you can bet it’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the days and weeks ahead. Next week’s Thanksgiving box office sees the debuts of Knives Out, Queen & Slim, The Two Popes and Waves. There will also be competition from Martin Scorsese’s highly-anticipated The Irishman. Usually a new Scorsese film would be a guaranteed presence on the box office chart but this is his first project via Netflix. Though Netflix tried to see eye-to-eye with theater companies, The Irishman will only be playing in select theaters, meaning most people will be watching the film from the comfort of their own homes. It will likely keep some people home and away from theaters though, so it will be giving Frozen 2, Knives Out and others competition but in its own way. But even with The Irishman and others stepping up to the plate, you can bet that Frozen 2 will take the crown again next weekend. Disney has reason to be thankful.
