DIS Walt Disney Co

By R.T. Watson 

Walt Disney Co.'s "Frozen 2" gobbled up the majority of box-office receipts on its way to a record-breaking Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Bolstered by tremendous audience enthusiasm, the animated musical tale of sisters Elsa and Anna grossed $123.7 million in the U.S. and Canada during the five-day weekend, according to preliminary studio estimates. That was easily enough to top the previous Thanksgiving-weekend record of $110 million earned in 2013 by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.'s "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire."

After two weekends in theaters "Frozen 2" has already made $287.6 million in the domestic market, plus $451 million overseas, bringing its world-wide total to $738.6 million. The movie is well on its way to becoming Disney's sixth movie to gross more than $1 billion globally this year.

"Frozen 2" helped narrow the gap between cumulative domestic box-office receipts in 2019 and 2018, a bumper year. After the five-day weekend, this year's total box-office receipts in the U.S. and Canada are behind last year by 5.6%. Before the holiday the deficit stood at 7%, according to media measurement company Comscore.

A cornucopia of movies fought over Disney's weekend leftovers. Lions Gate's "Knives Out" took second place behind "Frozen 2." Boasting both an all-star cast -- including Chris Evans, Daniel Craig and Jamie Lee Curtis -- and excellent reviews, the whodunit grossed $41.7 million during the holiday weekend.

For Lions Gate -- which had stood out in past Thanksgiving holiday weekends with its "Hunger Games" franchise but then last year bombed with a costly "Robin Hood" remake -- "Knives Out" offered another chance to build on what has largely been a turnaround year at the box office.

Powered by strong reviews, Disney's racing drama "Ford v Ferrari" cruised to third place, followed closely by Sony Corp.'s "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," which stars Tom Hanks as the beloved children's television host Fred Rogers. Both holdovers from previous weeks, the two films have so far grossed $81 million and $34.3 million, respectively.

"Queen & Slim," a gritty drama about a couple who goes on the run after killing a policeman in self defense, also opened over the holiday weekend. The film -- which cost about $18 million to produce and is being distributed by Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures -- grossed $15.8 million during the holiday weekend, a decent total considering the movie was shown in about half as many theaters as the top four grossing titles.

Write to R.T. Watson at rt.watson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 01, 2019 15:32 ET (20:32 GMT)

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