The nation’s multiplexes were as crowded as Thanksgiving tables as four new releases battled for a piece of the box-office pie over the five-day holiday weekend. As expected, Disney’s latest animated offering, Encanto, won the festive frame, debuting in the top spot with a $40.3 million bow. Meanwhile, United Artists’ star-studded House of Gucci entered the charts in third place with $21.8 million and Screen Gems’ Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City finished in fifth with $8.8 million as Paul Thomas Anderson’s buzzy indie, Licorice Pizza, set a new pandemic-era specialty-release record with a supersized $84,000 per-screen-average.   Read full article »