I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. I hope it was a peaceful, reflective and refreshing time spent with family and friends. I hope it was everything you needed and could possibly ask for.
But even if you had the best Thanksgiving of your life, I guarantee it pales in comparison to the Thanksgiving Disney just had. Well, unless your holiday included nabbing the biggest Thanksgiving weekend of all time. Because that’s what Disney just did. Their Frozen 2, with its three-day total of $85,250,000 and its five-day total of $123.7 million, just earned the best Thanksgiving total of all time, besting the previous champion The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The animated film’s domestic total now comes in at $287,573,344 while its international total is a cool $739 million. Mama mia, that’s a lot of cold hard cash. Need I remind you, Frozen 2 has done this in a total of…(adjusts glasses, checks notes)…two weekends. Two. Weekends.
So, yes, it was a great holiday for the Mouse House. I don’t need to remind you that their season will only get better because their grand treasure, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, hits theaters in just weeks and promises to make Frozen 2 look like a respectable opening act. I know it’s crazy to think about but Star Wars might rack up these astonishing numbers in less than a week. Seriously.
The rest of the box office chart was festive and warm, including a strong opening for Rian Johnson’s Knives Out (number two with $27,022,000), impressive staying power for both Ford V. Ferrari (number three: $13,221,000) and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (number four: $11,795,000). Newcomer Queen & Slim did alright for themselves with $11,680,000 at number five.
Serious props must be given to Knives Out which brought in a really respectable haul despite being a brainy murder mystery, something that doesn’t always bring in crowds. The cast certainly helped put asses in seats with this film and you could tell Lionsgate knew that was the film’s secret weapon because all the promotional material was plastered with the faces of Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Craig, Chris Evans and the mean mug of Michael Shannon. This is an instance of smart marketing, a great release window and, of course, a strong product. Expect Knives Out to cross the $100 million mark before it’s all said and done. Hopefully it’ll inspire other mystery films in the near future.
I’ve also got to tip my hat to Last Christmas, a film that is sticking around on the charts despite not having a huge opening and lacking many positive reviews. A hair over $30 million for a grand total isn’t amazing but it honestly kind of surprises me. I saw this one possibly burning out quickly but it took four weeks to slowly fade away. Playing With Fire also deserves applause as it continues to linger on the chart. The power of John Cena!
Next week is a very light one for new releases which means that, yes, Frozen 2 is going to secure a third week at number one. Disney released this beast at the right time, far from other family features and during a relatively quiet Thanksgiving window. Frozen 2 is the new queen of the box office and it might be awhile before it’s dethroned.
