The theatrical experience isn’t dead yet! Three new releases have combined to lift the box office to its best Black Friday in history, with Moana 2, Wicked, and Gladiator II combining to earn $108 million at the box office.
Moana 2 led the way, breaking the record for Black Friday box office hauls with $54.5 million. Disney has now revised their estimate for the movie’s gross over the five-day weekend to between $215 and $220 million, which is where many of the company’s competitors originally believed the movie would land. That haul would represent a record for the most money earned in a five-day weekend, eclipsing The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned $204.6 million.
Moana 2 didn’t cannibalize the success of other movies at the box office, though. Wicked continued to impress, earning $32 million on Friday, which is the third-best Black Friday in box office history after just Moana 2 and Frozen II. The movie is expected to eclipse $100 million again over this five-day weekend, which means that it will already be one of the top-grossing movies of the year after just two weeks of release.
Although it isn’t putting up the kinds of numbers that Wicked and Moana 2 are, Gladiator II continues to represent a respectable third-place finisher, earning $12.4 million on Black Friday.
This is shaping up to be one of the best box office weekends in history, not just because of the success of Moana 2 but also because of other titles that continue to perform well without cannibalizing one another. Like Barbenheimer weekend last year, this is an excellent time to go to the movies.
