‘Moana 2’ Smashes Box Office Records in Opening Weekend

Moana 2 being a hit is no surprise — the first movie was a success and remains extremely popular. But the film has exceeded many projections and is already a huge smash after an opening weekend among the biggest in history.

The film has grossed $221 million in the U.S. alone since last Wednesday, and a total of $386 million worldwide. Disney is touting a whole list of box office records it has broken to date, including:

• Biggest 5-day opening of all-time (surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie/$204.6M)
• Biggest Thanksgiving weekend of all time by far ($221M 5-day, $135.5M 3-day, surpassing Frozen II/$125M 5-day and $94M 3-day)
• Biggest Thanksgiving debut by far (more than doubling Frozen/$94M 5-day and $67M 3-day)
• Thanksgiving Day of $28M (nearly doubling Frozen II/$15M)
• Highest ever Black Friday at the box office with $54.5M (exceeding Frozen II/$34.2M)
• Biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios debut of all time.

The original Moana grossed roughly $643 million worldwide in its initial box office run. At this rate, Moana 2 should easily pass those numbers soon.

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What makes this all the more incredible is the fact that Moana 2 almost didn’t happen — at least not as a movie. Initially, Disney announced plans to continue the story of Moana in a series for Disney+. The studio eventually decided to change course, and then worked to reconfigure the material developed for the Moana series as a theatrical sequel. They only announced the existence of the movie in February of this year — while most animated features take at least two to three years to complete.

And Disney still has their live-action remake of Moana (the first Moana) in production now and scheduled for release in the summer of 2026. (The film stars Dwayne Johnson as Maui, the character he voices in the animated Moana movies.) I can’t think of a precedent for a remake of a movie hitting theaters so close to a sequel to that same film. Will audience be confused? Will they care? It will be an interesting test case, if nothing else.