Wow.
In case you haven’t herd, Disney’s Zootopia 2 made a grand entrance this weekend, earning $96 million for the three-day weekend and $156 million for the five-day holiday period (okay, technically it was six days, but I digress). And that’s not even the best news: Zootopia 2 has made $556 million worldwide, easily the best global opening for 2025. If you’re unaware, Judy and Nick are very popular in China (mind you, China’s government is going to pull it from theaters before it has any chance of surpassing their beloved Ne Zha 2, but again, I digress).
Everything went right here. Unlike last year’s Moana 2, which was a patch-up job for a cancelled streaming series, Zootopia 2 was always intended to be a grand theatrical sequel to one of Disney’s most beloved films of the past decade. They took their time here to make a worthy follow-up, and it shows. Zootopia 2 got absolutely fantastic reviews, just like the original back in 2016, and audiences are loving it too. Those KPop Demon Hunters might not win the Best Animated Feature Oscar this year after all.
Zootopia 2 had one of the three best Thanksgiving weekends ever. The other two are, fittingly enough, the aforementioned Moana 2 and Frozen II. Next holiday season, Disney releases an original animated feature with the non-musical fantasy Hexed. Then 2027 will deliver another surefire mega-blockbuster for them in the form of Frozen III.
But the furries aren’t the only ones celebrating. Wicked: For Good is still bewitching crowded theaters with a three-day take of $62 million and a five-day haul of $93 million. That’s not quite the kind of legs Wicked: Part One enjoyed last year over the same period, but that hardly matters when you consider this has already conjured up $260 million stateside. The sequel which is making everyone cry will hopefully see a solid hold over the Christmas season, even as Universal confusingly decides to compete against themselves by releasing Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 next weekend.
There are other movies to talk about, with the most impressive numbers coming from the current Best Picture frontrunner Hamnet, which makes it into the top ten despite only playing on 100 screens. Unfortunately, Wake Up Dead Man is dead on arrival, playing on just 600 screens as Regal and AMC chose to boycott Netflix here. The sad fact of the matter is Netflix doesn’t give a shit how their theatrical runs do. They supposedly only release these Knives Out sequels to theaters at all due to it apparently being in director Rian Johnson’s contract they do so.
Finally, Eternity is not heaven-bound as it proves to be another financial disappointment for A24. The hipster studio is normally able to build online awareness for their releases, but such was not the case for this high concept well-reviewed rom com. I never saw so much as a single ad for this. Just where was the marketing?
Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline
- Zootopia 2 (Dis) 4,000 theaters, Wed $39.5M, Thursday $19.7M Friday $38.5M Sat $35.8M Sun $22.5M 3-day $96.8M, 5-day $156M/Wk 1
- Wicked: For Good (Uni) 4,115 theaters, Wed. $17.4M, Thursday $12.57M Fri $26M Sat $21.6M Sun $15M 3-day $62.8M (-57%), 5-day $93M, Total $270.4M/Wk 2
- Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (LG) 3,092 (-311) theatres, Wed $1.42M, Thu $1.67M Fri $2.6M Sat $2.7M Sun $1.6M 3-day $7M (-22%) 5-day $10M, Total $49.6M/Wk 3
- Predator: Badlands (Dis) 2,750 theaters, Wed $900K, Thu $925K Fri $1.8M Sat $1.9M Sun $1.1M 3-day $4.8M (-26%), 5-day $6.6M/Total $85M/Wk 4
- Running Man (Par) 2,749 (-297) theaters, Wed $840K Thu $980K Fri $1.4M Sat $1.45M Sun $850K 3-day $3.7M (-35%), 5-day $5.5M, Total $34.2M/ Wk 3
- Eternity (A24) 1,348 theaters, Wed $1.45M (includes previews), Thu $616K Fri $1.1M Sat $1.2M Sun $826K 3 day $3.16M, 5 day $5.2M/Wk 1
- Wake Up Dead Man (Netflix) 600 theaters, Wed $600K, Thu $400K Fri $600K Sat $400K 5-day $4.25M/Wk 1
- Rental Family (Sea) 1,925 theaters, Wednesday $400K, Thu $575K Fri $800K Sat $800K Sun $500K 3-day $2.1M (-36%), 5-day $3M, Total $7.39M/Wk 2
- Hamnet (Foc) 119 theaters Wed $310K, Thu $160K Fri $310K Sat $350K Sun $220K 3-day $880K, 5-day $1.35M
- Sisu: Road to Revenge (Sony) 2,222 theaters Wed $200K, Thu $205K Fri $290K Sat $310K Sun 3-day $810K (-66%), 5-day $1.2M, Total $4.1M/Wk 2