By It was a good extended holiday weekend across the board as both Disney and independent movies came to feast at the box office. The big winner, as they always are, is Disney, who had Frozen 2 bring them both a three and five day Thanksgiving record with $85.2 million and $123.7 million respectively. The movie is a juggernaut and no other animated movie has made money as fast other than Incredible 2, another Disney film.
However, unlike most weekends, Disney’s success didn’t mean a soul-crushing failure for smaller movies out there. Rian Johnson’s newest film, Knives Out, seemed to suffer no ill affects from angry Star Wars nerds as the movie pulled in a fantastic $41.7 million of five days, landing it the 16th largest Thanksgiving opening ever. For a smaller whodunit the box couldn’t be better and its rave reviews and positive audience reaction mean it will have legs. Definitely makes the idea more movies with Daniel Craig’s southern gentleman detective Benoit Blanc far more likely.
Hell, even more independent films fared well over the extended weekend with Oscar hopeful Queen and Slim landing in the top five with a $15.8 million five-day and strong word of mouth as well. It’ was a great weekend of original movies, something we can’t say most weeks and that’s fantastic.
1. Frozen 2 – $85,250,000
2. Knives Out – $27,022,000
3. Ford v. Ferrari – $13,221,000
4. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – $11,800,000
5. Queen & Slim – $$11,700,000
6. 21 Bridges – $5,820,000
7. Playing With Fire – $4,200,000
8. Midway – $3,957,000
9. Joker – $2,030,000
10. Last Christmas – $1,980,000
