One week after the musical sequel Wicked: For Good broke box office records with its release, a different franchise has surpassed it to dominate over the long Thanksgiving weekend. Families took advantage of the holiday and kids being off school to catch Zootopia 2 on the big screen, earning $156 million over its first five days on the 2025 movie calendar and an astonishing $556 million worldwide when adding in international earnings.
Zootopia combined with Wicked: For Good to rank as the fourth-best Thanksgiving of all time with approximately $293 million across all films. Take a look at the chart, then we’ll break it all down below:
|
TITLE |
WEEKEND GROSS |
DOMESTIC GROSS |
LW |
THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1. Zootopia 2* |
$96,800,000 |
$156,000,000 |
N/A |
4,000 |
|
2. Wicked: For Good |
$62,800,000 |
$270,441,000 |
1 |
4,115 |
|
3. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t |
$7,000,000 |
$49,677,813 |
2 |
2,264 |
|
4. Predator: Bad Lands |
$4,800,00 |
$85,040,607 |
3 |
2,750 |
|
5. The Running Man |
$3,720,000 |
$34,255,000 |
4 |
2,749 |
|
6. Eternity* |
$3,169,780 |
$5,236,587 |
N/A |
1,348 |
|
7. Rental Family |
$2,100,000 |
$7,392,228 |
5 |
1,925 |
|
8. Hamnet* |
$880,000 |
$1,350,000 |
N/A |
119 |
|
9. SISU: Road to Revenge |
$810,000 |
$4,125,179 |
6 |
2,222 |
|
10. Nuremberg |
$685,000 |
$12,451,842 |
8 |
540 |
China Helps Zootopia Sequel To Biggest Global Opening Ever For An Animated Movie
Zootopia 2 was up against some pretty worthy competition as far as animated premieres, including that of its Academy Award-winning predecessor. Domestically, the estimated $156 million accrued from Wednesday to Sunday (per The Numbers) made it the second-best Thanksgiving launch ever, falling short of last year’s Moana 2 — another Disney sequel — which feasted on $225 million over its first five days.
It was internationally, however — and in China specifically — where most of its earnings came from. The animated sequel got $400 million from markets outside of North America to combine for $556 million worldwide. This gives it the best global debut of 2025 so far and the biggest premiere for an animated film ever.
Approximately $272 million of that came from China alone, where the franchise is especially popular, even boasting the recently opened Zootopia Land at Shanghai Disneyland, per Variety. Not only was Zootopia 2 China’s biggest animated movie opening of all time, it’s the country’s second-best premiere overall, falling only behind 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
In the U.S. and Canada, the sequel starring Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman as the voices of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, respectively, outperformed its 2016 predecessor’s first three days. Zootopia opened in March of that year with $75 million, compared to the $96.8 million that Zootopia 2 got from Friday to Sunday. The original went on to amass $341 million domestically and surpass $1 billion worldwide — not to mention its Oscar win for Best Animated Feature.
The original movie’s success was definitely a factor in how excited people were for the Disney sequel and a return to the titular land of anthropomorphic animals. It also helps that critical response was good — 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, an A on CinemaScore, and a 4-out-of-5-star ranking in CinemaBlend’s review of Zootopia 2.
It doesn’t hurt that movie theaters have been hurting for animated kids content lately, with The Bad Guys 2 in August being the last new release.
Audiences Are Still Enchanted By Wicked: For Good, But This Year’s Thanksgiving Falls Short Of Record-Setting 2024
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s sequel may not have taken top billing in Wicked: For Good’s sophomore weekend, but $62.8 million from Friday to Sunday is nothing to melt down over, as it fell 57% from last weekend. The sequel’s premiere was stronger than its 2024 predecessor ($150 million to Wicked’s $114 million), but Act I of the book-to-screen adaptation had a better second weekend, earning $118 million over Thanksgiving to For Good’s $93 million over the five-day period.
Wicked: For Good is still going strong in international markets, as it nears a big $400 million milestone with $393.3 million after 10 days.
Still, as good as the Jon M. Chu and Disney sequels have been for the box office, they didn’t come close to leading a charge to break last year’s all-time high of $422 million. The 2025 Thanksgiving total of $293 million ranks fourth behind 2024 (Moana 2, Wicked, Gladiator II); 2018 ($315 million from Ralph Breaks the Internet, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Creed II); and 2014 ($294.2 million led by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire).
Eternity And Hamnet See Modest Numbers In Limited Release
Zootopia 2 was the tentpole for Thanksgiving weekend, but it wasn’t the only new release. The new A24 movie Eternity earned $5.2 million over its first five days in limited release. The movie, which stars Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller and Callum Turner in an afterlife fantasy rom-com, is receiving high marks from the staff here at CinemaBlend, with some calling it their favorite movie of 2025 and others saying it has the power to restore your faith in the genre.
It will be exciting to see if it can pull into the Top 5 when it expands into more theaters next week.
The adaptation of Hamnet is another one to keep your eye on, as it cracked the Top 10 at No. 9, despite being shown in just 119 theaters. Best Director Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao brings us a historical drama about William Shakespeare, giving a fictionalized account of how the death of his 11-year-old son Hamnet affected his marriage and inspired Hamlet.
The film stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal and is expected to be a major contender at the upcoming Academy Awards, so watch for this one when its wide release hits December 12.
The year may be coming to a close, but don’t turn all of your attention to the 2026 movie releases just yet. There’s still plenty to look forward to in December, including Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 next weekend and Avatar: Fire and Ash on December 19. You can be sure we’ll be here every Sunday breaking down all the box office news.