Everybody knew that Moana 2 would be a big hit in theaters this Thanksgiving. What everyone may not have guessed, however, is just how massive a hit the film is turning out to be. After years of the original Moana being one of the most-watched movies in all of streaming, it has taken Moana 2 just one night to start breaking box office records.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Moana 2 officially hit theaters on Wednesday morning, which means that previews of the film started popping up as early as Tuesday afternoon. The Tuesday preview night has already set a couple of new bars at the box office, delivering not only the biggest-ever preview for a Thanksgiving release, but also the second-highest preview total for any animated film in history.
According to Variety, Moana 2 took in a whopping $13.8 million at the domestic box office on Tuesday night. That’s the biggest preview opening ever for the Thanksgiving frame and it sets Moana 2 up to deliver the highest grossing Thanksgiving weekend. Frozen II currently holds the title for the biggest five-day Thanksgiving frame, earning $125 million back in 2019. That enormous hit delivered just $8.5 on its preview night, more than $5 million less than what Moana 2 just earned. That likely means Moana 2 is on track to break the Frozen sequel’s record, with projections currently estimating an opening between $135 and $145 million.
The only animated movie to deliver a bigger preview night at the box office remains Incredibles 2. Pixar’s 2018 sequel made $18.5 million in previews before earning an unprecedented $183 million over the course of its opening weekend. That’s the biggest opening frame for an animated film in domestic box office history, and Moana would need a massive word-of-mouth surge over the weekend to even come close.
[RELATED: What the Reviews Are Saying About Moana 2]
All of this bodes well for not just the 2024 box office, which is getting an enormous boost from the trio of Thanksgiving releases (Moana 2, Wicked, Gladiator II), but also means a great deal for the future of Moana as a franchise. Disney is already filming a live-action version of the story, and the events of Moana 2 seem to indicate that a third film in the animated saga won’t be far behind.
What makes this success even more worthy of celebration is the fact that Moana 2 was originally a streaming series that was being made exclusively for Disney+. It was going to make exactly $0 with that release plan but is now being written into box office history books.
