‘Moana’ helped Disney reach a new record high of $4 billion for the year. Of course that wasn’t done alone, as its $28.4M weekend haul is added to high grosses for ‘Doctor Strange’ which just passed $600M globally (more on that in a second), as well as ‘Captain America: Civil War’ ($1.153B WW), ‘Finding Dory’ ($1.027B WW), ‘Zootopia’ ($1.024B WW) and ‘The Jungle Book‘ ($967M WW). And let’s not forget that the House of Mouse has ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ opening on the 16th!
‘Moana’ topped the box office this weekend, but ‘Fantastic Beast’ also reached a milestone, crossing $600M globally, with $18.5M domestically. ‘Moana’ is benefiting from great word-of-mouth, with 15K people a day following its Facebook page. Meanwhile, ‘Fantastic Beasts’ pulled in $72.5M in China and it is now the #1 movie of the year in the UK, Germany, France and Italy.
Speaking of word-of-mouth, the science ficti0n sleeper hit ‘Arrival’ jumped over Brad Pitt’s ‘Allied’ to take the #3 spot. ‘Arrival’ landed at the same position on its opening weekend, trailing behind ‘Doctor Strange’ and ‘Trolls’ and while it has slipped, strong audience reaction is helping it stay strong against some stiff competition. It took in $7.3M this weekend, compared to ‘Allied”s $7.1M.
And at #5 is Marvel/Disney’s ‘Doctor Strange’ which continues to bewitch audiences. It conjured up $6.4M this weekend in the U.S., bringing it global total to over $600M, besting both ‘Deadpool’ ($419.5M) and ‘Suicide Squad’ ($420.5M)
- Moana (Disney) – $28.4M
- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Warner Brothers) – $18.5M
- Arrival (Paramount) -$7.3M
- Allied (Paramount) – $7.1M
- Doctor Strange (Disney) – $6.4M
Next week sees the arrival of some counter-programming. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone dance their way through musical ‘La La Land’, while Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman lead the ensemble cast of ‘Office Christmas Party’. Also opening is the Jessica Chastain-led action movie ‘Miss Sloane’.
Of course those are just appetizers, as the following week sees the release of ‘Rogue One’ which should rule the box office for at least a month (IF it can live up to the success of ‘The Force Awakens’).
Check back and see how things work out!
Source: Deadline
