Moana 2 has sailed to an impressive box-office total after four weeks of release as it looks set to deliver over Christmas too.
Originally intended as a TV show, the sequel was changed into a movie after impressing Disney executives enough to get a theatrical run. It's a decision that absolutely paid off with Moana 2 setting the biggest-ever Thanksgiving opening at the US box office.
The sequel has continued to impress after nearly a month of release, but if you haven't been paying attention to its box-office run, you might be surprised by just how much money Moana 2 has made.
That's where we come in with the latest box-office figures for Moana 2, as well as reasons as to why we should have all seen this success coming.
How much money has Moana 2 made?
After four weekends of release, here's how much Moana 2 has made as of December 22, 2024:
US box office: $359,068,328
International box office: $431,100,000
Global box office: $790,168,328
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As mentioned above, Moana 2 sailed to the biggest Thanksgiving opening of all time at the US box office with a massive five-day debut of $225.2 million, which also marked the biggest-ever five-day opening.
Its three-day opening US weekend of $135.5 million was the best ever for a Walt Disney Animation movie, ahead of Frozen II.
And as if that weren't impressive enough, Moana 2 also recorded the biggest global opening ever for an animation with $389 million, ahead of The Super Mario Bros Movie's $377 million, which was also boosted by a five-day US opening.
In its second weekend, Moana 2 also notched the biggest weekend gross for the post-Thanksgiving weekend, typically a slow weekend at the US box office, with $52 million.
The sequel has now sailed past Moana's global result of $643.3 million and also ranks as the fourth-biggest movie of the year to date, ahead of Dune: Part Two.
You might be wondering just how Moana 2 has gone so big compared to the decent (but not spectacular) result of the first movie. But there's actually a really simple reason that means we all should have expected this.
Why has Moana 2 been a box-office hit?
Moana might not have been a Frozen-style hit at the box office, as it took around half what Frozen did in 2013 ($1.28 billion on original run).
But even Anna and Elsa can't compete with Moana's recent success.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Moana has clocked up more than 1 billion hours viewed since it was released on streaming platforms. (It was available on Netflix before Disney+ launched in 2019.)
That amounts to one person watching the movie 775 million times, or watching Moana for "150,000 years straight". In the US, it was one of the most-watched movies in 2020, 2021 and 2022, then it was the most-watched movie in 2023.
It means that Moana has been the most-watched movie over the past five years combined. Since Nielsen started releasing weekly top 10 most-watched streaming movies lists in 2020, Moana has been in it for 60% of the weeks.
Take that, Elsa.
With such a huge streaming viewership persisting eight years after the movie's release, it's no surprise that younger audiences obsessed with Moana would have wanted to go and see Moana 2 at the cinema.
Combine that with one of the biggest release weekends of the year at the US box office (something Frozen II capitalised on in 2019), and Moana 2 was all but assured to sail to record-breaking success.
And with Christmas coming up and no sign of Moana 2 landing on Disney+ any time soon, there's no telling how far Moana 2 can go.
Moana 2 is out now in cinemas, while Moana is available to stream on Disney+.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
