'Coco' Has a Strong Holiday Opening
by EG
The holiday weekend got started very early, and the Pixar animated family film Coco was on top of it. The movie earned strong ticket sales in Tuesday previews, setting it up for a solid five-day holiday take. Justice League outperformed Coco on Tuesday, but it's almost certain to give up the weekend as a whole to the animated film.
Coco has a lot to be thankful for, as it grossed $2.3 million in Tuesday-night previews.
The animated movie from Pixar and Disney, about the Mexican holiday Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), opens on Wednesday in 3,948 theaters, including nearly 2,800 3D locations over and 268 screens offering the film in Spanish. Over its five-day Thanksgiving weekend debut, it is expected to earn $55 million to $60 million domestically, though there's plenty of room for upside.
Directed by Lee Unkrich and co-directed by Adrian Molina, Coco tells the story of 12-year-old Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez), who sets out to become an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). The trouble is, his family has banned music for generations. Miguel suddenly finds himself in the magical Land of the Dead, where he teams up with the trickster Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) in hopes of unlocking the secret behind his family history. The Frozen featurette Olaf's Frozen Adventure accompanies the film.
Preview numbers for Coco — which has already become the top-grossing film of all time in Mexico, earning nearly $50 million to date — compare well with those of fellow Disney/Pixar Thanksgiving releases: Moana ($2.6 million in 2016), The Good Dinosaur ($1.3 million in 2015) and Frozen ($1.2 million in 2013). Adding in Toy Story 2, Tangled and Enchanted, Disney Animation Studios and Pixar claim the top six five-day Thanksgiving openings of all time, not accounting for inflation.
Warner Bros.' DC superhero movie Justice League, which opened last weekend, won the day with $10.6 million in Tuesday-night showings for a five-day domestic total of $111.9 million. Coming in second for Tuesday was Lionsgate's family drama Wonder, which earned an estimated $5.6 million for a five-day total of $37.1 million.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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