As of Saturday (Nov. 29), Disney’s Zootopia 2 is officially the box office event of Thanksgiving weekend. The animated sequel posted a massive $38.5 million on Black Friday, the second-best Black Friday in history behind last year’s Moana 2 ($54.3M). With walk-up sales surging and audience scores climbing, industry estimates now place its 5-day domestic opening at $152–$156 million, with insiders noting it could push even higher toward $160 million by Sunday.
The stronger-than-expected surge reflects a significant amount of walk-up traffic. According to PostTrak, 61% of moviegoers bought tickets the same day, an unusually high figure that signals broad, spontaneous interest heading into the holiday frame. The film has also accumulated one of the year’s largest four-quadrant turnouts, with women under 25 making up the biggest share at 34%.For Disney, the momentum is notable beyond the holiday optics.
Zootopia 2 is set to surpass the original film’s early domestic pace by a wide margin. The 2016 feature took 12 days to reach a comparable $154 million domestically; the sequel is on track to hit that mark in just five. Premium formats continue to bolster business, with IMAX and PLFs contributing 21% of grosses, and the AMC Dine-In Disney Springs location in Florida topping the nationwide charts at nearly $270,000.
The standout numbers arrive in a weekend that’s also been reshaped by competing studio strategies. Universal’s Wicked: For Good added $26 million on Friday, setting it up for a five-day total of $93.5 million and a projected $270.9 million domestic cume by Sunday. Meanwhile, Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, playing in roughly 600 locations without support from the three major circuits, is headed past $4 million over five days, buoyed by strong word of mouth.
With holiday audiences turning out in force and Zootopia 2 showing unusually strong appeal among infrequent moviegoers, industry analysts are eyeing the weekend as a reminder that family-driven releases can still move the needle. How the film holds through the rest of the holiday stretch will ultimately decide whether Disney’s latest can lock in its status as one of the year’s biggest domestic debuts.
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