Walt Disney’s Encanto was the top movie on Wednesday, earning $7.5 million on its opening day.
Walt Disney’s Encanto was the top movie on Wednesday, earning $7.5 million on its opening day. That includes $1.5 million in Tuesday previews, and is frankly well below the previous Disney Thanksgiving toon debuts over the last decade. Covid curves notwithstanding, its $7.5 million opening day is essentially half of what Disney has been used for Wednesday grosses (between $11 million for Tangled in 2010 to $18 million for Ralph Breaks the Internet in 2018) on this five-day weekend over the last decade. It’s also below even the live-action debuts for Knives Out ($8.5 million in 2019) and Creed II ($11.5 million in 2018). It could end up opening closer to a DreamWorks Animation Thanksgiving title ( Penguins of Madagascar and Rise of the Guardians) than a Disney Thanksgiving bow. If the Stephanie Beatriz-starring musical folktale, which is one of Disney’s better animated films of late, legs out like The Good Dinosaur ($55.5 million from a $9.7 million Wednesday in 2015, which was considered a mediocre launch at the time), Coco ($73 million/$13.2 million in 2017), Frozen ($93 million/$15.5 million in 2013) and Tangled ($69 million/$11.9 million in 2010), it’ll end up with a soft but still face-saving $40-$45 million five-day debut. But that may prove optimistic. If it merely legs out like Moana ($83 million/$15.5 million in 2016) or Ralph Breaks The Internet ($85 million/$18 million in 2018), it’ll end the holiday with $35-$39 million.
