‘Moana 2' Shatters Box Office Records: Here's What You Need to Know

Officially sailing ahead of the competition, ‘Moana 2’ is now Disney's latest Thanksgiving box office winner. Dwayne Johnson as Maui and Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana are back together in the much-anticipated sequel, which went from being a planned television series to a motion picture within the last year. With an astounding domestic gross of $225.2 million, an international gross of $163.8 million, and a global total of $386.3 million, the movie broke several records on its first weekend of release.

Disney has historically dominated Thanksgiving releases, but ‘Moana 2’ raised the bar. At $225.2 million, it had the greatest 5-day opening ever, surpassing the $204.6 million earned by ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’. Additionally, it broke the previous record of $94 million set by ‘Frozen’ and surpassed the $125 million 5-day performance of ‘Frozen 2’ to establish the best Thanksgiving weekend opening. ‘Moana 2’ nearly doubled the $15 million record set by ‘Frozen 2’ with $28 million on Thanksgiving Day. It maintained its run on Black Friday, surpassing ‘Frozen 2' $34.2 million haul with a $54.5 million haul, the greatest amount ever for the day.

Image Courtesy: People

The movie has surpassed ‘Frozen 2' $130.3 million premiere to become the greatest opening ever for a Walt Disney Animation Studios picture. It also smashed Disney's preview records, earning $13.8 million on Tuesday previews, the second-highest for an animated feature after ‘Incredibles 2’ ($18.5 million) and the studio's best-ever for that day.

The movie was another significant milestone for Dwayne Johnson. He became the first actor to have two No. 1 openers in a single calendar month with both ‘Red One’ and ‘Moana 2’. ‘Moana 2’ also gave Johnson his second-best three-day opening weekend, coming in second only to ‘Furious 7’ ($147.1 million). Without question, the sequel caused a stir and strengthened Disney's position as the industry leader in animation and holiday box office performance.

–Farheen Ali