Before Moana 2 rains a monsoon of cash, Universal’s witches musical, Wicked, will not go quietly in the night, in fact yesterday the Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande movie was grande indeed with a studio reported $15.8M.
That’s the best Monday ever for November, better than Frozen II ($12.7M, Nov. 25, 2019), better than The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($12.3M, Nov. 25, 2013), higher than Skyfall ($11.3M, Nov. 12, 2012) and bigger than post-Covid’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($11.1M, Nov. 14, 2022). Wicked shoots up to $128.1M through four days.
Wicked‘s Monday was down -49% from Sunday’s $30.8M. Wicked‘s 3-day opening came in at $112.5M, the best by leaps and bounds for a movie based on a Broadway musical.
Meanwhile, Paramount’s Gladiator II did $5.5M on Monday, -59% from Sunday’s $13.6M, taking its four-day take to $60.6M.
‘Moana 2’
Disney
The day’s haul for Wicked is very promising as all eyes are on whether two female-leaning tentpoles can both rise to the top in a competitive holiday period. Monday’s take for Wicked indicates that audiences are responding to that A CinemaScore word of mouth, and planning their trips to the theater to get the best seats. The first media screening was held last night for Disney’s Moana 2, which was largely more kiddies than press, was met with great applause, not just at the end but after the musical numbers by Emily Bear and Abigail Barlow. Moana 2 previews start tonight at 2PM in what’s expected to be a $125M-$135M record Thanksgiving 5-day opening.
As far as Disney previews go, the best ever was Incredibles 2 with $18.5M. This past summer, Inside Out 2 racked up $13M. Keep in mind those were for a Thursday. The original Moana posted $2.6M in Tuesday night previews before its Thanksgiving 5-day of $82M.
That bounce at the B.O. yesterday comes from close to half the K-12 schools in the nation being on holiday break, plus another 20% off per Comscore. All titles in release made north of $27M, so expect an even bigger Tuesday today with Moana 2 coming into the mix, but also the K-12 schools off rising to 83% and colleges to 62% before everyone is off on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday.