A very busy Thanksgiving box office weekend rolls on as ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ adds $21.5 million from 4,017 screens on Black Friday. The Disney sequel is now estimated to finish the weekend with a $85 million five-day opening, which would make it the second-best Thanksgiving opening ever behind only the $93 million record set by “Frozen” in 2013.
In second is MGM’s “Creed II,” which will set a record of its own with the highest opening for a live-action Thanksgiving release. The top five Thanksgiving openings among all films are all animated Disney films, as families have flocked to see the studio’s offerings during the holiday weekend on an annual basis. But MGM will take the live-action record from another Disney film, “Enchanted,” which opened to $49 million in 2007, by earning an estimated $56 million five-day launch from 3,441 screens.
By comparison, the first “Creed” opened to $42 million on Thanksgiving weekend three years ago. If this estimate holds, that would signal a 33 percent increase for “Creed II.” The film added $14.1 million on Friday, with word of mouth going strong with an A from audiences on CinemaScore and an 82 percent from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Holdovers complete the top five, starting with Warner Bros.’ “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” in third with an estimated $42 million weekend after adding $11.8 million on Friday. Illumination/Universal’s “The Grinch” is close behind with a strong third weekend performance that has led to a $40 million five-day total. Fox/New Regency’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” will complete the top five with an estimated $19 million weekend, pushing its domestic total past the $150 million mark.
Outside the top five, Lionsgate’s “Robin Hood” is crashing out, adding just $3.46 million on Friday and estimated to finish its opening weekend with just $14 million from 2,827 screens. Critics have panned the film with a 12 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, and audiences have been mild at best with a B on CinemaScore.
Universal/DreamWorks’ “Green Book,” meanwhile, is doing much better from its smaller wide release on 1,063 screens, hitting pre-release projections with an estimated $7.7 million launch. The Participant Media film starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali is expected to expand again in the coming weeks, hoping to turn rave word of mouth into a long, steady theatrical run.