Thanksgiving Box Office: ‘Zootopia 2’ Feasts on $156 Million, ‘Wicked: For Good’ Adds Glittering $93 Million
Hollywood is giving thanks for “Zootopia 2” and “Wicked: For Good,” two Thanksgiving offerings that kept movie theaters stuffed over the holiday weekend.
Disney’s animated sequel “Zootopia 2” towered over the domestic box office with a mighty $156 million from 4,000 venues since Wednesday, including $96.8 million over the traditional weekend. Those ticket sales rank as the second-best Thanksgiving launch of all time, behind another Disney sequel, 2024’s “Moana 2,” which earned $225 million over the five days, and above another Disney sequel, 2019’s “Frozen II,” which generated $125 million over the five days. The original “Zootopia” opened in March 2016 with $75 million and became a massive hit with $341 million domestically and $1.02 billion worldwide.
“Zootopia 2” was an even bigger force at the international box office with $400 million, including a record-setting $272 million in China. In total, the second “Zootopia” earned a massive $556 million globally to stand as the fourth-biggest opening weekend in history.
“The incredible response to ‘Zootopia 2’ reflects both its worldwide appeal and the remarkable work of our filmmakers and cast,” says Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman. “It’s a proud moment for Disney Animation and all of us at Disney, not to mention a great way to start the holiday season.”
“Zootopia 2” wasn’t the only big-budget tentpole to satiate audiences around Turkey Day. Universal’s “Wicked For Good” dazzled with $93 million in its second weekend of release. Although the second half of “Wicked” was bigger in its debut, the follow-up isn’t holding as well as the first film. To compare, last year’s “Wicked” earned $118 million over the five-day holiday frame after debuting to $112.5 million during the same pre-Thanksgiving weekend. However, “Wicked: For Good” remains a juggernaut with $270.4 million domestically and $393.3 million globally after 10 days in theaters.
Despite a healthy turnout with roughly $293 million across all films, this year’s Thanksgiving lineup didn’t come close to the record established in 2024 with $422 million in total, led by “Moana 2,” “Wicked” and “Gladiator II.” This ended up ranking as the fourth-biggest Thanksgiving of all time behind 2018’s haul of $315 million (from “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” and “Creed II”) and 2014’s bounty of $294.2 million (powered by “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”).
“Thanksgiving represents one of the most important moviegoing periods of the year,” says Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian. “This is a welcome result in the wake of what has been a very tumultuous post-summer season for the industry.”
“Zootopia 2,” a buddy-cop comedy about anthropomorphic animals, is benefitting from several factors, including great reviews and word of mouth (a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and “A” grade on CinemaScore exit polls), as well as pent-up demand for family-friendly entertainment (as there’s been no kid-centric animated film since “The Bad Guys 2” in August.) The property is especially popular in China, where a Zootopia Land recently opened at the Shanghai Disneyland theme park. Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, “Zootopia 2” follows a rabbit police officer (Ginnifer Goodwin) and con artist fox (Jason Bateman) as they reunite to pursue a mysterious new reptilian resident (Ke Huy Quan).
“China has been trouble for American films during the last five years — very little has worked there — but the opening is breaking records,” says analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “The film is on track to gross more money in China than in the U.S.”
Two indie films, Chloe Zhao’s Shakespearean drama “Hamnet” and A24’s afterlife comedy “Eternity,” also opened this weekend, although on far fewer screens than “Zootopia 2.”
At No. 6, “Eternity” launched with $3.1 million from 1,348 cinemas over the traditional weekend and $5.2 million since Wednesday. The film, starring Elizabeth Olsen as a woman who must choose between two men (Miles Teller and Callum Turner) with whom to spend the afterlife, will expand to theaters nationwide next weekend.
“Hamnet,” a tragedy about the death of William Shakespeare’s son, cracked the top 10 with $880,000 from just 119 theaters over the weekend and $1.35 million during its first five days of release. The film, starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, is expected to be a major Oscar contender. Focus Features will slowly roll out the film over the next few weeks to build momentum.
Elsewhere, Netflix’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” earned an estimated $4 million from 600 theaters since Wednesday. The murder mystery, directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig as the Southern detective Benoit Blanc, isn’t playing at the nation’s three largest theater chains, AMC, Cinemark or Regal. Netflix, which doesn’t report grosses, will debut the third “Knives Out” installment on the streamer in December.
“Netflix isn’t interested in box office,” says Gross. “This release is done for the filmmakers, who want to see their movie on the big screen.”
After this weekend, domestic grosses have reached $7.5 billion and stand a mere 1.3% ahead of 2024 — which means there’s mounting pressure on “Zootopia 2,” “Wicked: For Good” and December’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” to salvage the up-and-down year and power the overall box office above $9 billion.
“With about five weeks to go, Thanksgiving sets the stage for a December that’s loaded with big franchises and awards contenders,” Dergarabedian says. But in order to reach the $9 billion threshold, he notes, “every movie has to pull its weight.”
Disney’s animated sequel “Zootopia 2” towered over the domestic box office with a mighty $156 million from 4,000 venues since Wednesday, including $96.8 million over the traditional weekend. Those ticket sales rank as the second-best Thanksgiving launch of all time, behind another Disney sequel, 2024’s “Moana 2,” which earned $225 million over the five days, and above another Disney sequel, 2019’s “Frozen II,” which generated $125 million over the five days. The original “Zootopia” opened in March 2016 with $75 million and became a massive hit with $341 million domestically and $1.02 billion worldwide.
“Zootopia 2” was an even bigger force at the international box office with $400 million, including a record-setting $272 million in China. In total, the second “Zootopia” earned a massive $556 million globally to stand as the fourth-biggest opening weekend in history.
“The incredible response to ‘Zootopia 2’ reflects both its worldwide appeal and the remarkable work of our filmmakers and cast,” says Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman. “It’s a proud moment for Disney Animation and all of us at Disney, not to mention a great way to start the holiday season.”
“Zootopia 2” wasn’t the only big-budget tentpole to satiate audiences around Turkey Day. Universal’s “Wicked For Good” dazzled with $93 million in its second weekend of release. Although the second half of “Wicked” was bigger in its debut, the follow-up isn’t holding as well as the first film. To compare, last year’s “Wicked” earned $118 million over the five-day holiday frame after debuting to $112.5 million during the same pre-Thanksgiving weekend. However, “Wicked: For Good” remains a juggernaut with $270.4 million domestically and $393.3 million globally after 10 days in theaters.
Despite a healthy turnout with roughly $293 million across all films, this year’s Thanksgiving lineup didn’t come close to the record established in 2024 with $422 million in total, led by “Moana 2,” “Wicked” and “Gladiator II.” This ended up ranking as the fourth-biggest Thanksgiving of all time behind 2018’s haul of $315 million (from “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” and “Creed II”) and 2014’s bounty of $294.2 million (powered by “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”).
“Thanksgiving represents one of the most important moviegoing periods of the year,” says Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian. “This is a welcome result in the wake of what has been a very tumultuous post-summer season for the industry.”
“Zootopia 2,” a buddy-cop comedy about anthropomorphic animals, is benefitting from several factors, including great reviews and word of mouth (a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and “A” grade on CinemaScore exit polls), as well as pent-up demand for family-friendly entertainment (as there’s been no kid-centric animated film since “The Bad Guys 2” in August.) The property is especially popular in China, where a Zootopia Land recently opened at the Shanghai Disneyland theme park. Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, “Zootopia 2” follows a rabbit police officer (Ginnifer Goodwin) and con artist fox (Jason Bateman) as they reunite to pursue a mysterious new reptilian resident (Ke Huy Quan).
“China has been trouble for American films during the last five years — very little has worked there — but the opening is breaking records,” says analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “The film is on track to gross more money in China than in the U.S.”
Two indie films, Chloe Zhao’s Shakespearean drama “Hamnet” and A24’s afterlife comedy “Eternity,” also opened this weekend, although on far fewer screens than “Zootopia 2.”
At No. 6, “Eternity” launched with $3.1 million from 1,348 cinemas over the traditional weekend and $5.2 million since Wednesday. The film, starring Elizabeth Olsen as a woman who must choose between two men (Miles Teller and Callum Turner) with whom to spend the afterlife, will expand to theaters nationwide next weekend.
“Hamnet,” a tragedy about the death of William Shakespeare’s son, cracked the top 10 with $880,000 from just 119 theaters over the weekend and $1.35 million during its first five days of release. The film, starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, is expected to be a major Oscar contender. Focus Features will slowly roll out the film over the next few weeks to build momentum.
Elsewhere, Netflix’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” earned an estimated $4 million from 600 theaters since Wednesday. The murder mystery, directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig as the Southern detective Benoit Blanc, isn’t playing at the nation’s three largest theater chains, AMC, Cinemark or Regal. Netflix, which doesn’t report grosses, will debut the third “Knives Out” installment on the streamer in December.
“Netflix isn’t interested in box office,” says Gross. “This release is done for the filmmakers, who want to see their movie on the big screen.”
After this weekend, domestic grosses have reached $7.5 billion and stand a mere 1.3% ahead of 2024 — which means there’s mounting pressure on “Zootopia 2,” “Wicked: For Good” and December’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” to salvage the up-and-down year and power the overall box office above $9 billion.
“With about five weeks to go, Thanksgiving sets the stage for a December that’s loaded with big franchises and awards contenders,” Dergarabedian says. But in order to reach the $9 billion threshold, he notes, “every movie has to pull its weight.”