Moana brought home the mega-bucks for Disney this Thanksgiving weekend, earning $81.1 million over the five-day holiday span and $55.5 million for the weekend itself. Only Frozen has ever done better, making $93.6 million in its first five days. Moana’s rapturous reception makes it part of a proud Disney legacy: Disney films make up nine out of the top 10 highest-grossing five-day Thanksgiving debuts.
According to Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis, the success of Moana and other similar movies justified Disney’s decision to take bigger risks on fewer films. That strategy includes the billions Disney paid to acquire Pixar (Toy Story), Marvel (The Avengers) and Lucasfilm (Star Wars).
“We are working with the greatest brands and we’re doing big, broad storytelling that resonates domestically, but has the power to transcend borders and languages and cultures around the world,” said Hollis in a statement.
Disney may well set a new industry record for annual box office revenue, a record previously held by Universal, which made $6.89 billion in 2015. Four of the year’s top-grossing films are Disney productions: Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, Finding Dory and The Jungle Book. Three of these earned over $1 billion, with only The Jungle Book dipping to a “modest” $966 billion take.
And that’s before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits Dec. 16.
Disney also controls 23.7% of the domestic market share, which means it controls the biggest percentage of the market any studio has had in at least 15 years.
“You look at their schedule for the next ten years, and nothing is going to change,” said Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “They’re going to be number one for awhile.”
#Moana is the #1 movie in the nation! What we're trying to say is: Thank You. (Your turn...) pic.twitter.com/sfJVFZdXNi
— Moana (@DisneyMoana) November 28, 2016
Did you see Moana ? What do you think? Feel free to talk about Disney’s Pacific Islander princess in our comments section below.
