MOANA 2 Has Biggest 5-Day Opening of All Time

With a 5-day domestic debut of $221M, Walt Disney Animation Studios' “Moana 2” has shattered numerous box office records including the biggest 5-day opening of all time, the biggest Thanksgiving debut and Thanksgiving weekend (3-day and 5-day), the biggest Thanksgiving day, and the biggest Black Friday ever. The film, which reunites Moana (voice of Auli‘i Cravalho) and Maui (voice of Dwayne Johnson) three years later for an expansive new voyage, opened in most markets around the world with $165M internationally, bringing its global cume to date to $386M, the second biggest global debut of 2024. 

“‘Moana 2' has far surpassed our high expectations this weekend and is a testament to the phenomenon that ‘Moana' has become,” said Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman. “We're fortunate to have an incredibly talented and hard-working creative team at Disney Animation who brought this new adventure to life, alongside our wonderful stars Auli'i and Dwayne and great new music. This is a moment to celebrate, and we're thankful to all the moviegoers and fans who've helped make this a record-breaking debut.”

Domestic records include: 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 2”/$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 2”/$15M); Highest ever Black Friday at the box office with $54.5M (exceeding “Frozen 2”/$34.2M); Biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios debut of all time. Disney now holds the top 7 Thanksgiving debuts of all time and 9 of the top 10. 

This is Disney's third film this year to surpass $150M domestically in its opening weekend, alongside Marvel Studios' “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($211M) and Pixar's “Inside Out 2” ($155M), marking the three biggest openings of 2024.

“Moana 2” is off to a strong start internationally as well, driven by No. 1 openings around the world. It reached the highest animated opening weekend of all time in France, second highest animated weekend of all time in Italy and Brazil, and highest WDAS opening weekend of all time across the Latin American region and in nearly 30 individual markets worldwide, including France, Italy, Australia, Brazil and Mexico.

It is now open in all markets except Japan, Thailand, and Hong Kong, releasing in all three in the coming week. Watch the new TV spot below.

After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she's ever faced. The voice cast also includes Hualālai Chung as Moni, Rose Matafeo as Loto, David Fane as Kele, Awhimai Fraser as Matangi, Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda as Simea, Temuera Morrison as Chief Tui, Nicole Scherzinger as Sina, Rachel House as Gramma Tala, Gerald Faitala Ramsey as Tautai Vasa, and Alan Tudyk as Heihei. Opening in 4,200 U.S. theaters on Nov. 27, “Moana 2” is directed by Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller and David G. Derrick Jr., from a script by Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush and Ledoux Miller. The film is produced by Yvett Merino and Christina Chen and executive produced by Jennifer Lee, Bush and Johnson.

“Moana 2” features music by Grammy winners Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Grammy nominee Opetaia Foa‘i and three-time Grammy winner Mark Mancina.