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Los Angeles — Movie sequels are having their own Thanksgiving feast at the box office and fuelling record industry-wide grosses for the long weekend.
Ralph Breaks the Internet and Creed II took the top two spots on the North American charts, beat the openings for the original films and helped the five-day Thanksgiving box office totals cross the $300 m mark for the first time ever.
Studios on Sunday said Disney's Wreck-It Ralph sequel earned an estimated $55.7m over the three-day weekend and $84.5m since its Wednesday opening to take first place and become one of the biggest Thanksgiving openings of all time.
Its five-day Thanksgiving grosses are the third highest of all time, behind Frozen and Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
The film sees the return of the vocal talents of John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman, and it scored with audiences and critics.
"We're very thankful for this weekend," said Cathleen Taff, who oversees Disney's theatrical distribution. "It was a fantastic start and a great way to kick off the holiday season."
The Rocky spinoff Creed II, starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone, placed second with $35.3m from the weekend and $55.8m since Wednesday, far surpassing the first film's Thanksgiving debut in 2015. The sequel directed by Steven Caple Jr. has Jordan's Adonis Creed fighting the son of Ivan Drago.
"This is a timeless franchise for us at MGM, and it's a thrill to see both its legacy and new generation of audiences continue to respond to Rocky Balboa and Adonis Creed in this time when we need uplifting stories," Jonathan Glickman, president of MGM's Motion Picture Group, said in a statement.
READ MORE: Michael B. Jordan walks the red carpet at Creed 2 screening in SA
Third place went to Illumination Entertainment's Dr. Seuss' The Grinch, which earned $30.2m in its second weekend, and just barely beat out the Fantastic Beasts sequel, Crimes of Grindewald ($29.7m) which is also in weekend two.
There was little left at the table for the latest version of Robin Hood, starring Taron Egerton. The poorly reviewed pic from Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment grossed only $9.1m over the weekend and $14.2m in its first five days in theatres against a reported production budget of nearly $100M.
Universal's crowd-pleaser Green Book, starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen, expanded to 1 063 locations after a limited start and took ninth place with $5.4m.
Peter Farrelly directed the film based on a true story of a road trip through the Jim Crow-era South. With awards buzz, good reviews and an A+ CinemaScore for the movie, Universal's distribution chief Jim Orr said he expects it to have a long life at the domestic box office.
Another awards season movie, Fox Searchlight's acclaimed period piece The Favourite, with Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Oliva Colman, opened in four locations to $420 000.
Overall, it was a remarkable Thanksgiving frame at the box office for the industry. It's the first time ever that the total domestic box office has surpassed $300m over the five days counted around the Thanksgiving holiday. Box office tracker Comscore is projecting a $314m total.
"This is a perfectly fitting Thanksgiving for a year that's had its share of records being broken," said Comsore's senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
