By a narrow margin, Pixar’s “Coco” edged out “Justice League” among moviegoers on Thanksgiving. The animated film made $8.9 million from 3,987 screens on Thursday, compared to $8.4 million from 4,051 screens for “Justice League.”
“Coco,” which opened in theaters on Wednesday, now has a running total of $22.2 million and is estimated to make roughly $70-$75 million by Sunday’s end. For comparison, the last Pixar movie to release on Thanksgiving weekend, 2015’s “The Good Dinosaur,” made $16.3 million at this point in its run and finished with $55.4 million. Disney’s “Moana” released on this extended weekend last year as well, making $25.4 million at this point and grossing $82 million over five days. Between them, Disney and Pixar have the top five highest Thanksgiving five-day openings, with “Frozen” ($93.6 million) and “Tangled” ($68.7 million) joining the aforementioned films on the list.
Though “Coco” was released amid bad publicity for Pixar, as studio founder John Lasseter announced a leave of absence amid sexual misconduct allegations, that hasn’t dampened the rave reactions to this Dia De Muertos family adventure. CinemaScore audiences gave the film an A+ on CinemaScore to add to its 95 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. Word of mouth is expected to only get bigger as more moviegoers see the film through the rest of the weekend, which should make this film a major box office player through the rest of the holiday season.
“Justice League,” meanwhile, has grossed $18.8 million combined from Wednesday and Thursday, and is expected to finish the weekend with a five-day total of $61 million. While a solid number that will make the second-weekend drop lower than “Suicide Squad” and “Batman v Superman,” it still makes “Justice League” the lowest grossing installment in the DC Extended Universe so far. Through its first seven days in theaters, “Justice League” has made $130.8 million, compared to $147.8 million for “Wonder Woman,” $179.1 million for “Suicide Squad,” and $209 million for “Batman v Superman.”
Lionsgate’s “Wonder,” which made $27.5 million last weekend, is expected to keep performing well with five-day estimates set at $32-35 million. So far, the November box office has generated $725.8 million, bringing the annual total to $9.47 billion.