Disney’s Moana 2 is set to break a Thanksgiving box office record after a massive opening, where it reportedly racked in more than $57m on Wednesday.
The film, which was originally planned to be a Disney+ TV show before being retrofitted to be a film, disappointed critics before its release but that hasn’t deterred families from flocking to cinemas to see the sequel.
The movie is said to have earned $57.5m on its opening day and is now projected to hit at least $175m (£137m) during its first five days in theatres.
Variety reports that this could make Moana 2 the biggest Thanksgiving opening weekend ever, toppling previous records set by Frozen II ($125m/£98m) and by Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($109m/£85m).
Astonishingly, these opening day numbers already place Moana 2 as the third most for an animated film, just behind Incredibles 2 ($71m/£56m) and Inside Out 2 ($63m/£50m).
Overall, Moana 2 has earned $66m (£51m) at the global box office.
The film sees Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson reprise his role as the demigod Maui, alongside Auli’i Cravalho who voices Moana.
The original film, which was released in 2016, followed the story of an adventurous teen who sets sail on a dangerous mission to save her people. Along her journey, she meets Maui who guides her on her quest. It became a huge word-of-mouth success and grossed more than $680m (£535m) globally.
At the premiere of the new film, Johnson said fans who come to theatres to watch Moana 2 should sing along to the songs if they want to.
“Especially if you love music, that’s the fun part,” Johnson told BBC News.
“Sing! You’ve paid your hard earned money for a ticket, and you’ve gone into a musical, and you’re into it. Sing.”
This comes after controversy surrounding the release of the highly anticipated musical Wicked, with cinema chain, AMC, banning fans from singing along with the songs during screenings and encouraging them to respect other cinema-goers.
Wicked has experienced an astronomical box office opening, after opening in cinemas on 22 November. Variety reports that the Ariana Grande and the Cynthia Erivo starring movie is expected to earn more than $240m (£189m) domestically by the end of the week.
Gladiator 2, starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal, has also enjoyed a favourable run at the box office, earning more than $141m (£111m) in the United States alone.
