Typically after Thanksgiving, whatever Disney movie happens to be on top slides about 55 percent. "Moana," however, lost just 50 percent, coming in at an estimated $28.4 million in its second weekend. That's a stronger hold than any of Disney's recent Thanksgiving cartoons, including "Tangled," "The Good Dinosaur," and even "Frozen."
To date, "Arrival," which cost a reported $47 million to make, has earned $73.1 million in America and a total of $105.2 million across planet Earth.
Meanwhile, World War II drama "Allied" also fell less than 50 percent (44.5 percent, to be exact) from its debut a week ago, finishing fourth with an estimated $7.1 million. That middling reviews haven't hurt this movie much among its target audience (of people old enough to still care what critics think) is a testament to Brad Pitt's star power, or at least to prurient tabloid interest in him.
Rounding out the top five, "Doctor Strange," in its fifth weekend, still managed to conjure up an estimated $6.5 million. With a domestic total to date of $215.3 million, it's one of two current movies that are already in the Top 10 for the whole year so far. ("Fantastic Beasts" is the other.)
The absence of a new sleeper hit like "Krampus" kept this weekend's total box office about three percent below that of the same weekend last year. Still, total domestic earnings for the year to date stand at $10.3 billion, marking the first time that the figure has crossed the $10 billion mark by this time of year. Last year's record haul was only $9.9 billion at this time, though there was still a "Star Wars" movie yet to be released.
Even if this year's "Star Wars" installment doesn't approach the monster success of last year's "The Force Awakens," 2016 is still four percent ahead of last year and on track to become Hollywood's biggest year to date. For that, the studios can thank pluggers like "Arrival" and "Allied" for inching the 2016 total closer to that record, one ticket at a time.
