Disney's 'Encanto' Leads Muted Thanksgiving Box Office, 'House of Gucci' Lands Impressive Debut

Reuters

Published Nov 28, 2021 11:48AM ET

By Rebecca Rubin

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) - Disney has reclaimed its rightful place at the top of Thanksgiving box office charts. "Encanto," the studio's new animated musical fable, collected $40 million since Wednesday, a robust tally at a time when family audiences haven't been eager to return to cinemas.

It's become holiday tradition for Disney to release a family friendly movie around Turkey Day, and "Encanto," an animated movie with critical acclaim, serves as a promising sign that parents are gaining confidence to bring their young kids back to the movies. The movie's five-day total is considerably short of the studio's recent Thanksgiving releases, such as "Frozen II" in 2019 ($123.7 million), "Ralph Breaks the Internet" in 2018 ($84.6 million) and "Coco" in 2017 ($71 million). However, "Encanto" has landed the best opening weekend for an animated film during the pandemic. That's notable because movies geared toward family crowds have struggled to sell tickets and in a normal year, animation is regularly one of the highest-grossing (if not the highest-grossing) genre.

Moviegoers also feasted on MGM's A-list crime drama "House of Gucci," which brought in $14.2 million over the traditional weekend and $21.8 million in its first five days of release, proving there's still an audience for adult dramas, as long as Lady Gaga is featured in a starring role.