Staying put at #1, as expected, was Disney's latest animated hit, Moana. The musical held very well for coming out of Thanksgiving, though, off 50% to $28.4 million, for a strong $119.9 million gross in 12 days. In comparison, The Good Dinosaur was off 61% in its post-Thanksgiving frame, Tangled was down 56% and Frozen was down 53%. Moana currently is pacing $15 million behind Frozen through the same point ($135 million), but no one expected it to perform as well as that movie anyway. One thing is for sure, word of mouth seems to be very healthy for this one. Moana seems likely to pass $200 million, and if Sing doesn't cut into its audience too badly in a couple of weeks, it may come close to $300 million. We shall see. Overseas, it's just getting started, with $32 million from 30 markets, for a worldwide gross of $180 million so far.Holding onto second place, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them fell 59% from Thanksgiving to $18.5 million. That's not a great hold, but it is better than the last three Hunger Games movies, which both fell over 60%. The last Harry Potter movie to open over Thanksgiving, Deathly Hallows - Part I, was down 65% in the post-Thanksgiving frame. In 17 days, the prequel to the Wizarding World trilogy has pulled in a solid $183.5 million. It has one more weekend until Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters to take away teenagers and families. Overseas, it continues to do gangbusters, with $420 million so far, and the worldwide gross zooming past $600 million. That's enough for a sequel, ladies and gentlemen (which is set for November 2018).
Having the best hold of the list was Amy Adams' Arrival, which jumped back up to third place in its fourth weekend. The critically-adored sci-fi flick was off 36% to $7.3 million, for a very good $73.1 million gross in 24 days. If it can continue rack up awards season attention (it earned several Critics' Choice Awards nominations), the film could very well approach or pass $100 million. Meanwhile, fellow Paramount release Allied also held decently, off 45% to $7.1 million. The Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard romance thriller has pulled in $28.9 million in 12 days.
Doctor Strange followed with a 53% decline to $6.5 million, for a strong $215.3 million gross in one month of release. The latest Marvel movie held better than Thor: The Dark World (56%) over the post-Thanksgiving frame. The Benedict Cumberbatch flick is at $635 million worldwide with Japan still to open. Staying in sixth place was DreamWorks Animation's Trolls, which fell 57% to $4.6 million, for a solid $141.4 million in the same amount of time. That's a similar drop to recent early-November holdovers such as Big Hero 6 (57%), Wreck-it Ralph (58%) and Puss in Boots (59%). Trolls continues to pace slightly ahead of Puss and MegaMind, and should find its way to a finish of about $155 million.
Continuing to show strong holding power, Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge jumped up to seventh place in its fourth weekend, and was off 38% to $3.4 million. The war drama is at a very good $57.3 million in one month of release. On the other hand, Bad Santa 2 was down 47% to $3.3 million. The sequel that not many asked for is at a stale $14.3 million in 12 days, and will probably stall at $20 million.
Opening in ninth place was the weekend's lone new release, horror flick Incarnate. The independent release pulled in just $2.7 million, for a weak $1,531 per-venue average. That is to be expected considering the weekend after Thanksgiving people don't usually go to the movies, but even that was about half of what was expected ($4-5 million). The budget was only $5 million, so ultimately, any financial losses for distributor High Top will be minor.
Rounding out the Top 10 was Almost Christmas, which was down 56% in its fourth weekend to $2.5 million. The PG-13 comedy has earned a solid $38.1 million in 24 days, with not much more to go (especially with Office Christmas Party opening next weekend).
That's it. Next weekend, I already mentioned the lone new wide release (Office Christmas Party), which should be able to pull in decent enough numbers. But it may or may not be able to take first place away from Moana. Also, Jessica Chastain's Miss Sloane expands nationwide, as it is the calm before the Star Wars storm the following weekend.
