It’s Disney’s world and we’re just living in it. Honestly, when it was announced that “Frozen II” would be released this weekend, it was a guarantee that the Mouse House would trounce the rest of the box office competition. So, we can’t say we’re surprised that it actually happened. However, it’s the actual totals that were put up that are probably even above Disney’s huge expectations.
Released six years after the original film, “Frozen II” earned a whopping $127 million domestically and a new animated record of $350 million worldwide. The global number absolutely shatters the previous record held by “Toy Story 4,” which earned $241 million in June of this year. Odds are, if you were walking around your local multiplex this weekend, you probably saw legions of little kids dressed as the various Disney characters, excitedly rushing to the theater to check out the latest adventure.
READ MORE: ‘Frozen 2:’ Head Into The Unknown With This Surprisingly Mature Sequel [Review]
This opening bodes well for the film as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, which means kids will be out of school for the majority of the next week in the United States. Expect to see “Frozen II” coast through the busy week ahead, riding high from its decent 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and impressive A- CinemaScore. “Frozen II” is well on its way to giving Disney yet another $1 billion film in 2019. The previous film earned a remarkable $1.27 billion in 2013.
Knowing that families would be lining up around the block to see the latest Disney animated film, other studios attempted to offer adults some counterprogramming, with the release of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and the action film “21 Bridges.” But it was the second weekend of “Ford v Ferrari” that took the #2 spot with an impressive $16 million, dropping a respectable -49% from its debut. The Matt Damon/Christian Bale racing film currently has a domestic total of $58 million after 10 days and a global cume of $104 million. Pretty great start for the prestige racing drama.
As for the aforementioned non-Disney debuts, ‘Neighborhood’ came in at #3 with a debut of $13.5 million. The Tom Hanks-starring film carries a modest $25 million budget, so this is a solid debut for the drama about a journalist crossing paths with Mister Rogers. This is the type of film that attracts an older audience, so don’t be surprised when the film sticks around in the weeks to come as people make it out to catch the film.
After #3, the bad news begins, as “21 Bridges,” starring Chadwick Boseman and produced by the Russo Brothers, opened with a soft $9.3 million in its first three days. After STX delayed the film from its previous September slot, it was clear that the studio was hoping that the Thanksgiving holiday and a bit more marketing time would give the action film enough buzz to carry it through. Sadly, it appears that there just wasn’t a ton of excitement and hype surrounding the film. That being said, with a B+ CinemaScore, audiences enjoyed the film and perhaps word-of-mouth will keep it around. But you can’t help but think that everyone involved in disappointed with this showing.
Speaking of disappointments, let’s talk about the second weekend for “Charlie’s Angels.” After director-writer-producer-star Elizabeth Banks admitted that the film flopped in its debut weekend a week ago, people were curious if the B+ CinemaScore would mean that the second weekend could rebound. Well, it didn’t. In its second frame, “Charlie’s Angels” dropped all the way to #8 and earned a dismal $3.1 million, giving the film a disastrous $14 million after 10 days. Thank goodness the film doesn’t have a massive budget, or we’d be talking about “Charlie’s Angels” as one of the year’s biggest box office bombs. For now, it’s just yet another franchise that has run its course and is likely done for good.
In limited release, Mark Ruffalo and director Todd Haynes had a good debut for the new awards season contender “Dark Waters,” which opened in 4 locations and a Per-Theater-Average of $27,500. This film will begin its expansion in the weeks to come and looks poised to have a decent box office run ahead of it.
As mentioned, next weekend is a bit different, as Thursday is the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. That means many people will have long holidays and will be making their way to the local theater. And Hollywood has plenty to offer, as the week will see debuts from “Knives Out” and “Queen & Slim,” in addition to what is expected to be another monster weekend for “Frozen II.”
Here’s the full domestic top 10 for November 22 to November 24:
1. Frozen II – $127M (Debut)
2. Ford v Ferrari – $16M ($58M Overall)
3. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – $13.1M (Debut)
4. 21 Bridges – $9.3M (Debut)
5. Midway – $4.7M ($43M)
6. Playing with Fire – $4.6M ($32M)
7. The Good Liar – $3.4M ($11.8M)
8. Charlie’s Angels – $3.1M ($14M)
9. Last Christmas – $3M ($28M)
10. Joker – $2.8M ($327M)