‘Zootopia 2’ Leads the Top 5 Movies at the Thanksgiving Box Office

There were enough tasty choices at the Thanksgiving box office to produce one of the greatest holiday shows ever.

The five-day Thanksgiving weekend brought in about $294 million, led by Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” which brought in an estimated $156 million. That sum won’t be confirmed until Monday, when all of Sunday’s ticket sales are counted, but would represent either the third or fourth largest Thanksgiving haul of all time.

According to Comscore data, the fourth-highest Thanksgiving holiday box office revenue was $291.3 million in 2012, while the third-highest was $294.2 million in 2013.

The 2025 Thanksgiving period at the box office established records even though it was less than the record-breaking $424.9 million in 2024 and the $315.6 million in 2018.

IMAX reported its highest five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend ever with $40.8 million in global ticket sales, 70% higher than the previous record established over the same frame in 2024.

″‘Zootopia 2’ and ‘Wicked: For Good’ delivered a phenomenal one-two punch for the Thanksgiving holiday – hitting the sweet spot for family audiences and sending our global box office soaring way past expectations,” Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX, said in a statement Sunday.

Disney, too, hit multiple goals.

Largest animated box office ever

“Zootopia 2” had the largest global opening of an animated movie of all time, with an estimated total of $556 million. According to the firm, it is the fourth-highest global opening ever.

“A staggering global result for ‘Zootopia 2’ as the Disney brand coupled with a PG-rated family film extravaganza and a beloved original installment powered the film to over a half a billion dollars worldwide,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore, told CNBC. “This film truly cracked the code on what family audiences around the world [are] looking for when venturing out to cinemas.”

Additionally, the animated sequel posted the second-highest Thanksgiving day and Thanksgiving opening for both the five-day and three-day periods. The current record holder is 2024′s “Moana 2” which made $221 million for the five-day Thanksgiving holiday and $135.5 million for the three-day.

Universal’s “Wicked: For Good” generated an estimated $93 million to the US box office during the five-day Thanksgiving period, lower than the $118 million “Wicked” took up during the same period in 2024.

However, box office analysts predicted that “Wicked: For Good” and “Zootopia 2” would keep selling tickets in the weeks leading up to Christmas and before Disney’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” was released.

“This holiday weekend now sets the stage for a solid final home stretch of the box office year and with a great assortment of films on the way, including notable blockbusters and awards contenders… this is a welcome result in the wake of what has been a very tumultuous post-summer season for the industry,” Dergarabedian stated.