As the Thanksgiving box office heads into the main portion of the weekend, Disney’s “Frozen II” has already crossed $200 million in domestic grosses with an estimated total of $202 million after one week in theaters. The sequel made $14.7 million from 4,440 screens on Thanksgiving Thursday, as industry estimates now have its 5-day weekend total finishing at $130-135 million.
Lionsgate/MRC’s “Knives Out” is also performing well as word-of-mouth is helping push its opening weekend estimates well above its original $30 million point. After grossing $6.2 million on Thursday from 3,392 screens, the Rian Johnson mystery has a total of $14.6 million and is estimated to earn a $45 million 5-day opening against a $40 million budget. Critics have praised the film since its Toronto premiere with a 96% Rotten Tomatoes score, and now it has an A- on CinemaScore to go with it.
Third on the Thanksgiving charts is Sony’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” with $3.1 million from 3,325 screens and an estimated $21 million 5-day total. Fox/Chernin’s “Ford v Ferrari” is just behind with $2.9 million from 3,585 screens and an estimated $20 million 5-day total. Completing the top 5 is Universal/Makeready’s “Queen & Slim,” which made $2.3 million on Thursday and is estimated to make $15 million by Sunday against a $20 million budget.
Overall, Thanksgiving Day box office totals finished at $35.3 million. While that is down approximately 16% from the $41.9 million total earned during the holiday last year, but consistent with the $35.4 million earned on Thanksgiving Day 2017. Black Friday box office is projected to total $77.5 million, down 7% year over year, while 5-day overall totals are currently estimated for $280 million, which would be down 11% from last year’s record $315 million holiday total but would rank fourth on the all-time charts.