Animation Showed Major Strength At Last Weekend’s U.S. Box Office

Animation buoyed the post-Thanksgiving box office. Disney’s Polynesian musical adventure, Moana 2, had a robust second-weekend performance, despite sliding from its record-breaking debut week stats.

Its second-weekend gross of $51.3 million was good for first place, and the highest-ever for any film post-Thanksgiving weekend. After last weekend, the film’s domestic total is $299.3m, which has already eclipsed the original 2016 film’s total of $248.7m. With an additional $299.9m from international play, the worldwide total is $606m, and will soon surpass the original’s $643.3m global take.

The weekend also saw a solid start for Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment’s R-rated anime release Solo Leveling – ReAwakening, which debuted in the #7 spot with $2.4m from 846 locations. Directed by Shunsuke Nakashige, ReAwakening is based on the South Korean portal fantasy web novel by Chugong about human hunters and monsters from parallel dimensions. The strong opening is even more remarkable considering that it is a compilation film recapping the show’s first season along with the first two episodes of the show’s upcoming second season, which debuts early next year.

Meanwhile, Gints Zabalodis’ meditative post-apocalyptic fantasy Flow continued to find new audiences. The Sideshow/Janus Films release expanded into 375 U.S. theaters, grossing an estimated $544,813, lifting its overall domestic total to $650,150. The film marks Janus Films’ widest-ever release and the fifth highest-grossing release in the venerated indie distributor’s history. Flow also continues to pick up major, including the European Film Award, and the New York Film Critics Circle, and is Latvia’s official submission for international feature at the 97th Academy Awards.