Moana Gets Frozen Out as Pitt, Beatty Bomb

Disney's South Pacific animated tale Moana fell short of a Frozen-sized debut, reports the AP, but it nevertheless dominated the Thanksgiving box office with an estimated $81.1 million over the five-day weekend. The well-reviewed Moana, set in ancient Polynesia, earned $55.5 million from Friday to Sunday. It didn't match the 2013 Thanksgiving release of Frozen, which opened with $93.6 million. But Moana scored the second-highest Turkey Day debut ever, and Variety notes that it puts another feather in Disney's cap of successes this year, which include Zootopia, Doctor Strange, Finding Dory, and The Jungle Book. All told, Disney so far has five of the year's top-grossing films, with Rogue One due soon.

Falling to second was JK Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which earned $65.8 million over the five-day weekend. Those releases far outpaced more star-driven films. The Brad Pitt-Marion Cotillard World War II romance, Allied, opened with a mediocre $18 million over five days. Warren Beatty's first film in 15 years, Rules Don't Apply, bombed with $2.2 million over the five-day weekend. (More box office stories.)