‘Moana 2’ and ‘Wicked’ fuel biggest Thanksgiving box office ever

It was all feast and no famine at the Thanksgiving box office this year.

The tag-team of Disney’s “Moana 2,” Universal’s “Wicked” and Paramount’s “Gladiator II” pushed the five-day Thanksgiving holiday to its biggest haul in cinematic history — an estimated $420 million as of Sunday.

“A perfect storm of Thanksgiving box office, powered by a trio of films from the musical, epic drama, and family film genres, has arrived at the most advantageous moment to reinvigorate the theatrical marketplace after a post-summer malaise,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

“Moana 2” led the frame with $221 million for the five-day period, a significant overperformance compared to the $100 million box office analysts had initially expected. It marked the highest Thanksgiving weekend performance of a film ever, beating out 2019’s “Frozen II” which snared $125 million during the period.

“Wicked” continued to soar with $117.5 million in estimated ticket sales for the holiday, bringing its total domestic haul to $262.42 million. It is now the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation of all time at the domestic box office. Globally, the film stands at $359.2 million after 10 days in theaters.

“Gladiator II” added $44 million to the Thanksgiving total. It has snared an estimated $111.2 million in domestic ticket sales during its first 10 days in theaters and $320 million globally since opening internationally earlier this month.

“There is no shortage of words to describe the historic weekend we’ve seen unfold at movie theaters,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “When one film exceeds expectations in the way ‘Moana 2’ has, that alone is a big story. When fellow tentpole films like ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ excel at the same time, it’s a powerful reminder of the importance moviegoing continues to hold in our culture.”

The Thanksgiving holiday haul hasn’t topped $200 million since 2019, according to data from Comscore. And, prior to this weekend, only one Thanksgiving period had surpassed $300 million.

The previous record was held by 2018′s slate, which was led by “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Creed II” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” These titles helped generate $315 million in ticket sales combined.

This year’s overperformance at the box office during the Thanksgiving period has also helped narrow the gap between 2024 and 2023’s hauls. The 2024 box office was hit hard following dual labor strikes in Hollywood the previous year, which halted production and pushed many of the major blockbuster releases to 2025 and beyond.

Heading into this holiday period, the 2024 box office was down 11% compared to the previous year’s numbers. Now, it’s just 6.4% behind, according to data from Comscore.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “Wicked” and owns “Fandango.”