“Moana” Sails to $81 Million Opening Weekend

Walt DisneyStudios(NEW YORK) — Disney’s Moana, featuring the voices of Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, sailed to the top of the extended holiday box office with the second-largest five-day Thanksgiving opening of all-time, earning an estimated $81.1 million.  It also notched the third-largest three-day Thanksgiving opening of all-time, with an estimated $55.5 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

Moana placed behind 2013’s Frozen and just ahead of 1999’s Toy Story 2, giving Disney nine of the top 10 five-day and three-day Thanksgiving weekend openings.  Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Finishing second for the weekend was Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, starring Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell, Katherine Waterston and Jon Voight, which earned a $45.1 million three-day and $65.76 million five-day total. In third place was Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange,  starring Benedict Cumberbatch, raking in an estimated $13.36 million three-day weekend and an estimated $18.85 million five-day total.

Rounding out the top five was Allied, starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, delivering a fourth-place finish with an estimated $13 million three-day and $18 million five-day opening. Arrival, starring Amy Adams, came in fifth, earned an estimated $11.25 million over the three -days and $15.6 million for the five-day.

Two more of this week’s new releases languished at the box office. Bad Santa 2, starring Billy Bob Thornton, bowed at number eight, only mustering an estimated $6.1 million for the three-day and $9 million for the five-day opening. And Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply finished out of the top ten altogether — it came in 12th, earning just $1.57 million for the three-day weekend and a $2.17 million five-day, making it the worst wide-opening of 2016. 

Here are the top 10 movies from Friday through Sunday, with estimated weekend gross ticket sales:

1. Moana, $55.5 million
2. Fantastic Beasts, $45.1 million
3. Doctor Strange, $13.36 million
4. Allied, $13million
5. Arrival, $11.25 million
6. Trolls, $10,340,000
7. Almost Christmas, $7.6 million
8. Bad Santa 2, $6.1 million
9. Hacksaw Ridge, $5.45 million
10. The Edge of Seventeen, $2.9 million

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