Frozen 2 marks the biggest Thanksgiving showing ever for a Disney animated film after taking the crown from the first Frozen, which earned $93.7 million for the five days in 2013. The follow-up’s performance is all the more impressive given that it opened last weekend.
Directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, Frozen 2 finished Sunday with a domestic total of $287.6 million and a staggering $738.6 million cume globally, including a second-weekend foreign gross of $163.8 million. The sequel — which will soon cross $1 billion — has already surpassed the total lifetime gross of Frozen in 11 markets, including China, where it has earned a huge $90.5 million to date.
After Frozen 2, the bounty was fueled by original, mid-range films that studios are wary to make in the age of streaming. Heading into the weekend, year-to-date revenue was down 7 percent domestically after a particularly poor November, and is now down 5.6 percent.
Overall Thanksgiving revenue came in at a hearty $264 million, one of the best showings of all time even while it was down roughly 16 percent from 2018’s record $315 million, which was led by Ralph Breaks the Internet, Creed II and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
