‘Moana’ Sails to #1 at the North American Weekend Box Office

Disney’s newest film, Moana, debuted over the Thanksgiving holiday, and has sailed to the top of the North American box office with a $81.1 million opening weekend. The animated film, which features the voices of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and Nicole Scherzinger, beat out early estimates, which were set at $75 million.

Speaking to USA Today, directors Ron Clements and John Musker, both revealed they were thrilled with the success of the film even though it fell short of Frozen‘s opening in 2013.

“Just as a good song bears repeating, so does a musical, that’s one of the special things about it,” Clements commented.

Coming in second was the Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which brought in an additional $65.8 million in its second weekend of release. Falling to third was Marvel’s Doctor Strange which brought in $18.9 million for a total domestic gross to date of $206 million.

Debuting in fourth was Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard’s new war movie Allied, which brought in $12.7 million ($85 million production budget), and rounding out the top five was Arrival with $11.4 million in its third week of release.