Film news: Moana 2, Wicked and Gladiator II conjure record-breaking box office weekend

Disney's Moana 2 led a record-breaking Thanksgiving box office weekend in North American cinemas.

A five-day gross of $221 million helped contribute to the best Thanksgiving period in North American cinema history.

Film News Blitz's David Bason writes how the Disney animated sequel achieved this with the help of Wicked and Gladiator II.

David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller's animated sequel opened in North American theatres last Wednesday and went worldwide two days later.

Moana 2 has already earned $386 million globally, the highest opening for an animated movie ever, and its $221 million domestic haul broke new ground in the Thanksgiving box office charts.

The Thanksgiving weekend at the box office was the healthiest in its history.

READ MORE: Film news: Moana 2 sailing towards U.S. Thanksgiving box office record

Thanks to Moana 2's gross, plus the added efforts of Wicked and Gladiator II, the Thanksgiving weekend total came out to $420m.

This surpasses the previous best Thanksgiving weekend sales result, $315m, which was set pre-pandemic in 2018.

With Covid-19 and Hollywood strikes doing their best to keep cinemas down, these results are a positive sign indeed for all those who love collective movie watching.

Take that streaming networks!

Wicked and Gladiator II still going strong

Jon M. Chu's Wicked is rightly taking the world by storm.

During the five-day Thanksgiving period, it added another $117.5 million to its box office tally in North American theatres.

That performance contributed to the musical extravaganza starring the incomparable Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande reaching $359 in worldwide sales to date.

In addition, Ridley Scott's Roman sequel Gladiator II is battling its way to strong results.

The Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington starring epic has thus far reached $320 million in worldwide gross, the highest of any feature in Washington's glittering career.

However, Gladiator II still has a ways to go to be considered a financial success.

A reported $250m production budget - with marketing costs considered to match that tag - means Scott's film will need to take half a billion in ticket sales to turn a decent profit.

READ NEXT: Film news: Heretic star Hugh Grant ‘will never be as fond of a film as I am of Paddington 2’