With a possible record-breaking opening weekend, Disney Animation’s “Moana 2” is set to make box office history this Thanksgiving. Based on what the movie business knows, the cartoon sequel could make between $125 million and $135 million over the five-day holiday weekend, more than any previous Thanksgiving animated film record.
This movie stands out because it went from being an online series to a movie theater release, which wasn’t expected. The project went through a huge change after CEO Bob Iger took back control. It was first planned for Disney+ as a limited series. Iger talked about the series’ popularity during an earnings call in February 2024. He said the original “Moana” had recently surpassed 1 billion hours of streaming and was the most-watched movie in the U.S. in 2023.
The creative team underwent big changes when the movie switched from home video to theaters. Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller joined as co-directors, and David Derrick Jr. stayed engaged. Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, who played Moana and Maui in the first movie, will return to play them again, giving fans a sense of connection with the characters they love.
Early signs of business success are very good. The movie trailer got 178 million views in its first 24 hours, which is the most ever for a Disney animation movie. Also, more first-day ticket pre-sales have happened for this cartoon movie than for any other in 2024, which shows that people are very excited about it.
“A mysterious ancestral call sets Moana off on an unexpected adventure in the sequel,” said co-director Dana Ledoux Miller. The story was carefully cut down from its original length in the series while keeping the depth of the secondary characters and focusing on Moana’s point of view.
Leaders in the theater business are also confident. Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres, said that the movie might do better than “Inside Out 2,” which shows that he is confident in the plan to release it in theaters. There are a lot of good Thanksgiving movies coming out simultaneously, like “Gladiator II” and “Wicked.”
This release marks a big change in Disney’s content strategy. They no longer focus on streaming material like they did in the early years of Disney+. The company had many money problems because of streaming, so this change shows that they are once again committed to standard theatrical releases.
The first “Moana” movie made $687.2 million worldwide in 2016, and it looks like the second one will even do better. With good early signs and a great holiday release date, “Moana 2” could break new records for animated movies at the box office.
The movie will be in theaters on November 27 and promises a new adventure with familiar characters and a story that works for both streaming and cinemas.
