"Zootopia 2" is off to a roaring start at the box office, earning $39.5 million in its first full day of release.
And the Disney animated sequel isn't the only follow-up film feasting at the Thanksgiving box office. "Wicked: For Good" brought in $17.2 million, bringing its stateside gross to $194.6 million. Unsurprisingly, Universal, which brought the Broadway musical to the big screen, has said it wants to find a way to extend the franchise and make more movies about Oz. "Wicked: For Good" should add more than $90 million to its haul to push its domestic total to nearly $270 million.
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Box Office: 'Zootopia 2' Races to $10 Million in Previews, Second-Biggest Start for Disney Animation
"Zootopia 2," a buddy cop movie with anthropomorphic animals as the bickering partners, is expectedto collect $125 million to $150 millionover the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, to take the box office crown.
That's a massive opening, even though it will probably fall short of the record set by 2024's "Moana 2," which earned $139 million over the traditional weekend and $225 million over the five days. Other Thanksgiving all-stars include Disney's 2019 sequel "Frozen II" ($125 million over the five days) and 2013's "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" ($109 million over the five days). But for exhibitors, who have endured a punishing fall filled with flop films like "The Smashing Machine" and "Tron: Ares," the arrival of another "Zootopia" and more Elphaba and Glinda finally gives them a reason to be thankful.
The second "Zootopia" should also dominate the international box office, earning $41.6 million to push its global total to $81.1 million. It is projected to pull in an additional $135 million to $145 million from foreign markets over its first five days of release. The film launched on Wednesday in China, where Shanghai Disneyland recently debuted a Zootopia Land, and Korea to huge results. In China, "Zootopia 2" scored the 10th-highest opening day ever for a U.S. release with $33.7 million, becoming one of the few Hollywood films to resonate at the Chinese box office since COVID. Since the pandemic, the country's local-language films have been far more popular than U.S.-backed pictures.
Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, "Zootopia 2" follows a rabbit police officer (Ginnifer Goodwin) and con artist fox (Jason Bateman) as they reunite to pursue a mysterious new reptilian resident (Ke Huy Quan).Variety'schief film critic Peter Debrugepraised "Zootopia 2" as a "worthy successor," and most reviewers agreed, handing the film an impressive 94% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Elsewhere, A24's "Eternity," a rom-com set in the afterlife that stars Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, and Callum Turner, debuted to $1.4 million from 1,348 screens, while Focus Features' "Hamnet," a drama about William Shakespeare dealing with personal tragedy, opened to $330,000 from 160 locations. "Hamnet" is considered to be an Oscar frontrunner, with critics lavishing praise on the work of director Chloe Zhao and stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.
Ticket sales should dip on Thanksgiving Day as people celebrate with their families and stream "Stranger Things," but audiences tend to hit up the multiplex on Black Friday and through the weekend.
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