‘Moana 2’ Is Biggest Debut Ever For Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios has scored its biggest domestic animation debut of all time with Moana 2. The film’s three-day weekend debut of $135.5 million, and five-day total of $221 million are both records for a Disney film, beating 2019’s Frozen II, which launched with a three-day of $130.2m and a five-day if $163.8m.
Disney is also claiming these additional domestic records:
- Biggest Thanksgiving weekend of all time
- Biggest Thanksgiving debut
- Biggest Thanksgiving Day of $28m
- Highest ever Black Friday at the box office with $54.5m
- Biggest five-day opening of all-time
On the latter record, the studio is claiming the biggest five-day opening of all-time by surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s $204.6 million, but it did not surpass the five-day opening of The Lion King remake, which grossed $243.2 million. (The discrepancy is based on “Hollywood accounting” that counts a five-day opening only if it runs Wednesday-Sunday, and not Friday-Tuesday as was the case of The Lion King.)
But however you view it, Moana 2 is a major hit for Disney, and likely a huge relief for its storied animation studio after flops like Wish and Strange World. The film’s three-day launch of $135.5 million is the fifth-best ever for an animated film behind 2019’s The Lion King ($191.8m), Incredibles 2 ($182.7m), Inside Out 2 ($154.2m), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($146.4m).
International play was also stellar. Disney is reporting $165 million internationally, bringing this weekend’s global cume to $386m. The biggest foreign territory was France, where the film grossed $18.8m. Disney is claiming it as the highest-animated opening weekend of all time in that country. The studio is also touting that Moana 2 delivered the second-highest animated weekends of all time in Italy and Brazil.
Further, Walt Disney Animation Studios recorded its best-ever launch across the Latin America region, as well as 30 individual markets worldwide, including France, Italy, Australia, Brazil, and Mexico. The top foreign markets are France ($18.8m), U.K. ($15.5m), Mexico ($11.1m), Germany ($10.5m), Italy ($9.3m), South Korea ($9.1m), Australia ($8.3m), Brazil ($7.5m), China ($6.5m), and Spain ($5.5m).
