Moana 2 had the biggest opening for an animated film in Australia in 17 years after it was released on November 28. Now over its second weekend, it’s inching towards the $1 billion at the box office worldwide.
It recorded 690,000 admissions and made $12.3 million at the Australian box office over its opening weekend.
Apart from being the biggest opening for an animated film, it was also the third-largest of all time in Oz, trailing only The Simpsons Movie (2007) and Shrek 2 (2004).
Moana 2 remained at the top of the box office in its second weekend in theaters and it brought in another record haul.
The film’s global tally reached a staggering $937.79 million over the last weekend.
Originally conceived as a Disney+ series, Moana 2 has already broken into the top five highest-grossing releases of the year.
Disney has three films in this year’s top five, including Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. The studio has one more big release before the year ends: Mufasa comes to Australia screens on December 19.
Cinema advertising company Val Morgan noted that over the opening weekend, of the 690,000 admissions, it included 60 per cent female, and 51 per cent of the total audience was delivered from the P25-54 demographic.
Moana 2’s stellar box office performance comes alongside that of Gladiator II and Wicked. Together, noted Val Morgan, the three films drove the highest weekend box office and audience results along the November 28-December 1 weekend in Australia since Barbenheimer last year, with $24 million, and 1.31 million admissions.
“We anticipated Moana 2 would be a major cultural moment for family audiences, and it has more than lived up to that,” said Guy Burbidge, Managing Director of Val Morgan Cinema.
“We’re gearing up for one of the biggest summers at the box office yet, with two more huge films — Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 — also set to release in the coming weeks. This strong line-up will continue delivering exceptional box performance, and we expect this momentum to continue well into the new year.”
