Finally: Disney can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they’ve scored a box office win. But seriously, folks: Frozen 2 is a smash hit. The long-awaited sequel to the 2013 animated film debuted over the weekend, and hauled in $350 million globally. That includes a $127 million domestic intake, which some are calling the biggest animated opening ever – but that’s not quite correct. Disney’s recent Lion King reboot was also fully animated, and had a $191 million opening weekend. Still, The Lion King 2019 isn’t officially one of the Walt Disney Animation Studios films, and as far as releases from that studio go, Frozen 2 is the winner.
2013’s Frozen took in some boffo box office, so expectations were high for Frozen 2. And now it looks like the sequel has lived-up to those expectations. The Disney sequel took in $127 million domestically, which, according to Box Office Mojo, “serves as the largest animated opening ever outside the summer corridor and a record animated opening for the month of November.” Frozen 2 opened domestically in 4,440 locations, which means it took in$28,604 per theater. In other words, it’s doing very well. The sequel also took in $223.2 million internationally, for a global total of $350 million.
Elsewhere in box office land, ultimate dad movie Ford v. Ferrari landed in second place, but also experienced a 49% drop. The feel-good Mr. Rogers flick A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood had a respectable $13.5 million opening weekend while the Chadwick Boseman cops-and-robbers pic 21 Bridges opened with $9.2 million, enough to buy a few more bridges.
While Frozen 2‘s success proves that Disney can still pack ’em in with franchise tentpoles, other studios continue to struggle. The Charlies Angels reboot and Terminator: Dark Fate continued to sink. Dark Fate isn’t even in the top 10 anymore, while Charlie’s Angels fell down to eighth place. Maybe it’s time to accept that audiences aren’t interested in TV-to-movie reboots or Terminator sequels. Or maybe these two films just didn’t look particularly appealing to, well…anyone.
We’re headed into a holiday weekend, with titles like Knives Out and Queen and Slim arriving on Wednesday. I haven’t seen Queen and Slim yet, but I hear it’s very good. I have seen Knives Out, and I can confirm it’s excellent. But will either of these titles have a strong Thanksgiving weekend? I really don’t know. Check back in with us next Monday as we nurse our leftovers hangover and try to figure this out. The current top 10 movies at the box office can be seen below.
1. Frozen 2
2. Ford v. Ferrari
3. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
4. 21 Bridges
5. Midway
6. Playing With Fire
7. The Good Liar
8. Charlie’s Angels
9. Last Christmas
10. Joker
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