Box Office: How ‘Moana 2,’ ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ Fueled Biggest Thanksgiving on Record

variety.com:

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter A trio of blockbusters — “Moana 2,” “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” — are fueling a record-breaking Thanksgiving bounty.

Overall domestic box office receipts between Wednesday and Sunday amounted to $420 million, the biggest Thanksgiving haul in history.

It obliterated the previous benchmark of $315 million, set by 2018’s slate of “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” and “Creed II.” Since the pandemic, though, Turkey Day has been all famine and no feast at the box office.

The holiday hasn’t topped $200 million since 2019 and plummeted in 2023 to a record low of just $125 million across all films, including Disney’s “Wish,” “Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and Ridley Scott’s historical drama “Napoleon.” Box office experts believe the rebound in attendance is thanks to effective counterprogramming — and notably of movies that audiences actually wanted to watch in theaters. “Moana 2” brought out families in droves while “Wicked” appealed to women old and young, and “Gladiator II” mostly courted men of all ages.