Despite some people coming on the internet to talk about how 'Moana 2' is not that great in comparison to its predecessor, the movie is making numbers like no other, not even in 2024, but in all of box office history.
The movie scores over $386 million at the global box office in its first week, being the #1 box-office opening week of 2024, and the biggest for an animation film of all time.
Keep in mind this is nothing but the first week since release, so it won't be weird if the movie positions itself as the best of the year, eventually surpassing 'Inside Out 2' and 'Deadpool & Wolverine', the current top 2 of 2024.
For comparison, 'Moana 2' opened in theaters one week after 'Wicked', another movie musical with an outstanding performance, and is already 2 spots on top of it on the Box office rankings.
In the early stages of development, the 'Moana' sequel was going to be a Disney+ exclusive series by a secondary animation studio, before turning into the film that we can enjoy today. The changes were made early this year and the production seemed quite rushed for many, but it ended up being an overwhelming hit.
The budget for the film was $150 million, and in just one week of theatrical release, it made two times its budget and a little more. Whatever message it is that this success sends the higher-ups, let's hope that it motivates them to put out more culturally rich and heartwarming movies with beautiful animation and style.
With generative artificial intelligence getting so popular and causing so much chaos, let's hope that studios keep this art form alive and healthy, instead of resorting to cheap and unethical methods.