Thanksgiving Box Office: 'Gladiator II' Cosplays as James Bond While 'Hundreds of Beavers' Finally Passes $500,000

Oh, and 'Moana 2' and 'Wicked Part One' are still flying into the record books, with a likely Wed-Sun gross of around $225 million and $105 million respectively.

The previous record for a Thanksgiving day gross, opening weekend or otherwise, was the respective day-seven $15 million grosses for Frozen II in 2019 and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (right alongside the wide-release debut of Frozen) in 2013. Well, Wicked Part One shattered that milestone on its seventh day with $17 million (-17% from Wednesday and essentially tied with its $19 million pre-release preview gross), bringing its week-long domestic total to $182 million as it prepares to cross $200 million domestic sometime this evening. But wait, Disney’s Moana 2 earned $28 million on its second day, which brought its two-day total to $85.5 million. Yes, the animated sequel dropped 52% from Wednesday, a larger-than-normal drop for a Turkey Day weekend newbie. However, Thanksgiving openers don’t tend to grab $58 million on this first day, so let’s roll with it.

Yes, Moana 2 is pulling Wed-Sun Thanksgiving legs closer to Rent and Wish than Coco or Tangled. However, the previous Thanksgiving weekend Wednesday record was Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018 with $18.5 million, which is 1/3 of Moana 2’s $58 million opening day. If it were pulling legs on par with The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ($176.5 million Wed-Mon after a $68.5 million opening day in July), then I’d be concerned. We’re still looking at a $135 million Fri-Sun and $225 million Wed-Sun debut, a new record for a Wed-Sun opening weekend. It would also be (sans inflation) above the domestic totals of Ralph Breaks the Internet ($201 million), Tangled ($200 million) and Coco ($210 million). Moana earned $248 million over its entire domestic run, which would be around $309 million adjusted for inflation. But give it a few days.

Sequels to animated biggies can and do make more than those original animated biggies. I’m still steamed that Disney sent a bunch of high-quality originals to Disney+ (Soul, Luca, Turning Red) or into theaters (Raya and the Last Dragon, Encanto, Strange World) amid market pressures that favored streaming consumption only to act like the end result was that originals were risky, inclusively was a cause and that (thus far) flavorless nostalgia-targeting sequels were the way to go. However, Elio can still right that ship. It’s also worth remembering that Inside Out 2, Moana 2 and even Alien Romulus began life as straight-to-streaming “content.” If Bob Iger and friends can see the value of theatrical release over a streaming-exclusive debut, then perhaps they will also remember that you can’t score a $225 million opening weekend from Moana 2 unless you roll the dice on Moana.

Meanwhile, Universal’s Wicked Part One is indeed playing its role as the proverbial Harry Potter/Hunger Games of the season. We can expect a $68 million (-39%) Fri-Sun and $106 million Wed-Sun gross to push it to $250 million by Sunday night. That’s awfully close to the $109 million Wed-Sun “second weekend” for Hunger Games: Catching Fire in 2013, and not that far off from Frozen II’s $125 million Wed-Sun “second weekend.” The latter had the tentpole field to itself that year, as Disney cleverly shifted the toon sequel to the pre-Thanksgiving frame to position it as both the YA epic and the family-friendly toon of November 2019. Assuming the Jon M. Chu-directed flick only holds as well as a Twilight Saga sequel or The Cat and the Hat (1.35x its ten-day gross), the Cynthia Erivo/Ariana Grande musical still gets to $325-$335 million domestic.

However, buzz and word of mouth for Wicked Part One are slightly better than for Mike Myers’ infamously traumatizing eldritchian horror show. It’s already set to become the top-grossing “not a Disney remake” live-action musical by today, passing the unadjusted lifetime grosses of Grease ($188 million) and Wonka ($218 million). Its “opening weekend to ten-day gross multiplier” is larger than the various Wizarding World flicks, Hunger Games sequels and Twilight films dropping on that same pre-holiday frame. Its 2.22x end-of-Sunday multiplier from a $112.5 million opening weekend is right between The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ($99 million from a $44.6 million debut in 2023) and Frozen II ($289 million from a $130 million debut in 2019). SoWicked Part One could end its North American run with $410-$425 million. With domestic grosses like that, on a $145 million budget, overseas is mere gravy.

Moana 2 is Frozen II on steroids (thus far), and Wicked Part One is a proverbial Harry Potter/Katniss Everdeen flick. Meanwhile, Gladiator II fills a space often occupied by the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig 007 movies. Yes, it’s an R-rated film, but it’s a “you can take your older kids” R-rated offering. From 1995 (GoldenEye) to 2015 (Spectre), the James Bond series was a big-budget, tentpole action spectacular for older and less fantastically-inclined moviegoers amid Thanksgiving and Christmas. It earned another $6.7 million (+2%) to bring its total to $80.5 million, setting the stage for a $31 million (-44%) weekend and $44 million holiday frame. That’ll give Ridley Scott’s legacy sequel a $111.4 million ten-day total. If it continues like a Brosnan 007 flick, we can expect a total on par with Gladiator’s unadjusted $187 million domestic cume.

Granted, the 2020s moviegoing marketplace is not like the mid-1990s or even mid-2000s, but Gladiator II is the last big-deal, big-budget, adult-skewing, non-fantastical action movie around for a long time. Even as just a big-deal actioner, it will be the only game in town, give or take Kraven: The Hunter on December 13 until Captain America: Brave New World on Valentine’s Day of next year. Skyfall legged out to $304 million domestically and ($1.1 billion worldwide) from an $88 million early-November debut in 2012, partially because all of its competition was “for the fans only” tentpoles like The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I’m not saying it’s an exact match, but folks like this Paul Mescal/Denzel Washington epic, and it’ll provide a counterpoint to Sonic sequels, Middle Earth toons and Lion King prequels.

Amazon MGM Studios’ Red One posted $3.3 million (+18%) on Thanksgiving, setting the stage for a $15.2 million (+15%) and $21.3 million Fri-Wed holiday haul. That will give Jake Kasdan’s “priced for streaming” $250 million Christmas comedy a $77 million 17-day cume. The Dwayne Johnson/Chris Evans action fantasy is still playing like a Tim Allen Santa Clause movie. December will determine if it ends up with closer to $125 million or $150 million domestic. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is living up to its title, with $800,000 (-6%) on Thursday for a likely $3.7 million (+8%) Fri-Sun and $5.35 million Wed-Sun gross. That will give the Judy Greer star vehicle a $32.5 million 24-day total, days away from passing The Strangers Chapter 1 ($35 million) as Lionsgate’s biggest 2024 grosser. Yay for studio programmer, Veggie Tales-style “Don’t be an asshole!” faith-based flicks!

Venom: The Last Dance will earn a $4.13 million Wed-Sun weekend to bring its cume to $139 million. Angel Studios’ Bonhoeffer will earn $2.45 million (-51%) over the Fri-Sun portion of its $3.5 million Wed-Sun second weekend. That’s a big drop, showing that faith-based audiences are showing up this weekend (as they do on most weekends, despite what the Internet says) for the same mainstream stuff as everyone else. The true-life biopic will have $9.8 million by Sunday, meaning it’ll end its run with over/under $15 million domestic. That’s par for the course for a non-breakout Angel Studios title, as long as they budget accordingly. A24’s Heretic will earn $1.9 million over the holiday for a $27 million 17-day cume. Searchlight’s A Real Pain, which is a real gem, lost 680 theaters this weekend. It’ll earn $1.22 million over the holiday for a $6.4 million 24-day cume.

Universal and DreamWorks’ The Wild Robot will earn $1.246 million in 883 theaters (-1,227 theaters in its ninth weekend) for a $142.6 million domestic total. By Sunday night, it will have quadrupled its domestic opening weekend in North America and quadrupled its $79 million budget worldwide. Paramount’s Smile 2 will have $69 million by the end of day 38, while Focus Features’ Conclave lost 590 theaters over the holiday. That seems like a mistake, considering the crowdpleasing “year-end prestige + trashy airport read” thriller is a solid consensus pick, even for families with slightly older kids. The PG-rated flick will earn $820,000 over the holiday and cross $30 million in North America. Neon’s Anora will earn $721,000 over the holiday for a $13 million 38-day cume. A24’s Queer, starring Daniel Craig, earned $79,000 on Wednesday but just $27,000 (-66%) on Thursday.

That should still result in a $156,000 Fri-Sun/$263,000 Wed-Sun debut in seven theaters. That’s a promising start for the Luca Guadagnino-directed and Justin Kuritzkes-penned adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel. Meanwhile, Hundreds of Beavers have passed $500,000 in domestic grosses. The one-of-a-kind frontier comedy, a kind of Sunrise meets Looney Tunes adventure, has played chiefly roadshow style since late January of this year. The picture, which premiered way back at the 2022 Fantastic Fest, has this year become a slow-burn, self-distributed, under-the-radar word-of-mouth sensation. It’ll return to theaters next month for a holiday event, playing in over 70 theaters for the first time in its release before debuting a 35mm print for a 2025 road tour. Directed by Mike Cheslik and written by Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (who also stars), Hundreds of Beavers is a modern cinematic miracle.

I’m being vague as I went it shockingly blind and was immediately thrown for a loop by certain… artistic choices (yes, the screenshot is a pretty big hint). Trust me when I say that Hundreds of Beavers, available at home since April, was a “movies can still do this to me” miracle. I don’t want more Lord of the Rings movies, but I want more movies that make me feel like I did when I first saw (for example) Fellowship of the Ring, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Gravity. Despite costing a fraction of what those top-tier tentpoles did, Hundreds of Beavers is the most astounding movie in terms of bang for your buck (I’m in awe of how they made what they made for $150,000), raw entertainment value and “hope for the future of the medium” wonder I’ve seen in a long time.