Box Office: Hollywood Cooking Up Record-Breaking Thanksgiving Feast

Domestic revenue for the five-day holiday stretch is predicted to reach an all-time high north of $300 million with the release of "Moana 2," "Wicked," and "Gladiator II."

During the Nov. 18 Los Angeles premiere, Ridley Scott and his well-known Gladiator II cast, which included Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, and Connie Nielsen, were unable to see the massive Christmas tree that was positioned at the entrance of the Ovation Hollywood mall next to the TCL Chinese Theatre because of a makeshift wall.

As November blockbusters Gladiator II, Wicked, and the animated powerhouse Moana 2 visit theaters on Turkey Day, take it as a sign that Christmas is coming early this year for all of Hollywood. One senior studio executive said, "This Thanksgiving, there will be something for everyone at movie theaters for the first time in a long time." "Business hums when there are great choices."

The three movies are predicted to contribute to the highest Thanksgiving weekend ever in terms of total revenue, which is a rare bright light in the post-pandemic era. The increase will help close a concerning year-over-year discrepancy in domestic box office receipts caused by a shortage of merchandise as a result of the protracted 2023 worker strikes and continuous delays caused by COVID.

According to Comscore, Thanksgiving 2018 set a record for the most total ticket sales income for the five-day holiday corridor, which spans from the Wednesday before the holiday through Sunday. Revenue for the five days reached $315.6 million, the only time it has ever broken $300 million, according to Comscore, with Ralph Breaks the Internet ($84.7 million), Creed II ($56 million), and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ($42.3 million) leading the way.

The musical adventure Moana 2 from Walt Disney Animation is scheduled to launch to a staggering $125 million to $150 million over the course of five days (some believe it will reach even higher), which is why it has been dubbed "Moanapocalypse." It opens on Wednesday, November 27.

If all goes according to plan, Moana 2 will have the highest five-day Thanksgiving gross ever (not including inflation) and a top five-day Thanksgiving opening nationally. With $125 million in ticket sales, the record is held by Frozen 2 (2019), which debuted the weekend before the holiday rather than during the week. After earning $82.1 million during the five-day Thanksgiving holiday in 2016, the first Moana went on to become a cult classic and, according to Nielsen, the most streamed movie in 2023.

Similar to the Broadway production, Universal's Wicked aims to sing and dance its way to breathtaking tunes. To go ahead of the holiday and give some separation from the Moana sequel, it will make its premiere on Friday, November 22, just like Gladiator II. The Jon M. Chu-directed movie is expected to debut with $85 million, but exhibitors believe it might earn more, possibly even more than $100 million.

The final trailer for Paramount's Gladiator II, directed by Ridley Scott, was released simultaneously on many platforms, reaching 300 million viewers worldwide. The company claims that this is the largest mass media blockage in history. The film is expected to debut to $65 million or more during the Nov. 22–24 frame, opening a quarter of a century after the original Gladiator won the Oscar for best picture. (Box office analysts are hoping for a Barbenheimer-style "Wickiator" or "Glicked" phenomenon between the two live-action crowd-pleasers.)