'Coco' Scores Another Strong Thanksgiving Debut for Disney
With a strong, five-day debut Disney and Pixar's Coco joined the ranks of the many successful films Disney has launched over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Receiving high marks from critics and audiences alike, the film finished atop the weekend box office and is looking at solid returns throughout the holiday season. Additionally, WB and DC Comics' Justice League and Lionsgate's Wonder played mostly as expected as the three films contributed to a healthy helping of receipts at the holiday box office, outperforming the Thanksgiving three-day last year by ~4% with the top twelve combining for over $180 million.

With an estimated $49 million for the three-day weekend and $71.2 million for the five-day, Disney and Pixar's Coco delivered the fourth largest Thanksgiving weekend three- and five-day openings. As a result, Disney continues to own nine of the ten largest three and five-day openings over the Thanksgiving holiday with New Line's Four Christmases the only non Mouse House title remaining among the ranks.

Coco's domestic opening is a hair over the 2010 opening for Disney Animation's Tangled, which went on to gross over $200 million domestically. The question is whether Coco, a non-Disney princess title, can have the same longevity as a film like Tangled or even last year's Thanksgiving hit, Moana, which opened with $82 million over the holiday five-day and went on to gross nearly $250 million domestically and nearly $650 million worldwide.

Looking into that future, one great stat is the "A+" CinemaScore the film received from opening day audiences, which broke down 53% female and 55% of all moviegoers were 25 years or under. To continue the Tangled comparison, that film also received an "A+" and 61% of its opening weekend audience was female and 57% were under the age of 25. Next weekend will give us a strong indication as to how the film will play moving forward when you consider Tangled dipped 56% in its second weekend and Moana just 50%.

Internationally, Coco was already off to a great start before this weekend even began after becoming the highest grossing release ever in Mexico where it opened at the end of October. This weekend it added several other markets including China and Russia. Its China debut came in at an estimated $18.2 million over the three-day weekend making it the 2nd highest opening ever for a Pixar/Disney animated release, behind only Zootopia. For now the film's international cume stands at $82.2 million for a global tally topping $153 million.

Finishing in second place is WB and DC Comics' Justice League, which dropped almost 57% in its second weekend for an estimated $40.7 million three-day and a $59.6 million five-day. The film's domestic cume now stands at $171.5 million after ten days in release. Internationally it added an estimated $72.2 million from 66 markets where its cume topped $300 million for a global tally that currently stands at $481.3 million.

Lionsgate's Wonder finished in third place, dropping just 19% for an estimated $22.3 million three-day and a $32.2 million five-day as its domestic cume is now just shy of $70 million after just ten days in release.

Disney and Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok enjoyed a fourth place finish, dropping just 22.5% for an estimated $16.8 million three-day and a five-day that nearly reached $25 million. The film is now the tenth largest release within the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a domestic cume that now stands at $277.5 million. Additionally, Ragnarok added $11 million internationally this weekend for a global total is now up to over $790 million making it the seventh largest worldwide release in the MCU.

Paramount's Daddy's Home 2 rounded out the top five, bringing in an estimated $13.25 million over the three-day and $18.6 million for the five day as its domestic total now stands at $72.6 million. Internationally the film added 21 new markets where it brought in an estimated $13.8 million including a #1 opening in the UK with an estimated $6.3 million. At this time the comedy's international haul stands at $15 million for a global tally topping $87 million.

The strongest hold in the top ten among films that didn't expand over the weekend belongs to Fox's Murder on the Orient Express. The film dropped just 6% for an estimated $13 million three-day and nearly $19 million five-day weekend haul. The Agatha Christie adaptation's domestic cume is now just shy of $75 million while its international total added over $17 million this weekend bringing its overseas cume to $122.6 million an a global tally just shy of $200 million.

Elsewhere in the top ten, Sony's expansion of Roman J. Israel, Esq. outperformed expectations a bit, finishing in ninth place with an estimated $6.2 million over the five-day weekend. The film expanded on Wednesday after a four theater limited opening the previous weekend and received a "B" CinemaScore from audiences, which broke down 52% male vs. 48% female of which 77% were over the age of 25.

Rounding out the top ten was Fox Searchlight's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which expanded into 614 theaters (+561) and brought in an estimated $4.4 million over the three-day and $5.85 million for the five-day. The performance just narrowly topped A24's Lady Bird, which just missed the top ten with an estimated $4 million for the three-day and $5.37 million for the five-day weekend from 791 theaters (+553).

In limited release, STX's The Man Who Invented Christmas debuted in 626 locations and brought in an estimated $1.3 million over the three-day and $1.8 million for the five-day holiday session.

Sony Classics debuted Call Me by Your Name on Friday where it brought in an estimated $404,874 from just four theaters for a healthy $101,219 per theater average.

And Focus released Darkest Hour on Wednesday in four theaters split evenly between New York and Los Angeles where it brought in an estimated $247,000 over the five-day frame. Current plans for expansion don't have the film reaching the top ten markets until December 8 as it will continue to play in New York and Los Angeles for the next couple weeks.

Next weekend doesn't see any new wide releases hitting theaters, though do be on the lookout for the limited releases of A24's The Disaster Artist, Fox Searchlight's The Shape of Water and Amazon Studios' release of Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel. All will be looking for strong performances as they hope to expand and play well through the holiday season.

You can check out all of this weekend's five-day estimated results right here and the three-day estimates here and we'll be updating our charts with weekend actuals on Monday afternoon.

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