Theater owners are surely giving thanks to “Zootopia 2” and “Wicked: For Good,” which delivered a much-needed one-two punch to the Black Friday box office.
Disney’s “Zootopia 2” led the pack with a stellar $38.5 million from 4,000 domestic theaters on Friday. That brings the North American count to $97.7 million since its Wednesday debut. Box office prophets predict the animated sequel will gross upwards of $155 million over the first five days of release. While unable to dethrone “Moana 2” as the highest Thanksgiving week earner of all time ($225 million over five days), anything above $150 million would slot “Zootopia 2” well over Turkey Day power grossers like “Frozen II” ($125 million over five days) and “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” ($109 million in the same time frame).
Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard, “Zootopia 2” sees the return of unlikely police duo Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) as they investigate the presence of a reptilian outsider (Ke Huy Quan) in their mammal-centric metropolis.
In second place is “Wicked: For Good,” which took home $26 million in its second Friday at the domestic box office from 4,115 theaters. That makes for a 62% decline from its $68.6 million debut last Friday. Jon M. Chu’s musical sequel has grossed $226.6 million at the domestic box office so far, and is projected to land somewhere around $270 million at the end of the five-day holiday frame.
“Eternity,” a fantasy romance from A24, opened in sixth place on Friday, earning an estimated $1.1 million from 1,348 locations. That brings the domestic total to around $3.1 million since Wednesday. From director David Freyne, the film stars Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller as a married couple who reunite in the afterlife, only to have their relationship challenged by an old flame, played by Callum Turner.
In its sophomore outing, “Rental Family,” starring Brendan Fraser as an expat actor working in Japan as a stand-in father for a young girl, landed in seventh place $800,000 in North America, according to rival estimates. The Searchlight Pictures release sat well with critics and audiences (86% on Rotten Tomatoes and “A” grade on CinemaScore), which could help earnings through the holiday season.
Chloé Zhao’s awards hopeful “Hamnet” opened in a limited release on Wednesday before it goes wide in December. The film earned $300,000 domestically from 119 locations. Starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William and Agnes Shakespeare, respectively, the film chronicles the creation of the tragedy of “Hamlet.” The film is expected to compete for 11 categories come Oscar time, including best picture, best director, best actress and best actor.
At No. 3 was “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” the third installment in the magical heist series. The film earned an estimated $2.6 million domestically on Friday. The film looks to add $10 million through Sunday for a North American total of $49 million. “Predator: Badlands” took fourth, hunting down $1.8 million domestically on Friday. The film has earned $82 million in North America so far. Finally, in fifth place was Edgar Wright’s dystopian action comedy “The Running Man,” which took home $980,000 on Friday. The film should hit $34 million in North America by Sunday.
