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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 26 November 2019

'Frozen 2' heats up box office with $127M opening weekend

By JAKE COYLE ied several records. It's week bump from kids out rating. Crowds were largely has grossed $103.8 million
AP Film Writer the highest-grossing de- of school. The first "Frozen" female (59%) but not ex- worldwide thus far. Starring
NEW YORK (AP) — Six years but ever for any animated opened over Thanksgiving, tremely so. And audiences Christian Bale and Matt
after "Frozen" kicked up a film globally. It marks a earning $93 million in five came out in larger numbers Damon, the movie has also
pop-culture blizzard, the new high in the U.S. and days and $67 million for the than analysts forecast, es- joined this season's sped-up
sequel to Elsa, Anna and Canada for an animated three-day weekend. pecially overseas. Oscar race. (The Academy
Olaf's adventures snowed- movie released outside of The original, though, quick- The film brings back much Awards will be held Feb. 9
in the box office with an es- the summer season. And it's ly grew into a sensation, re- of the talent behind the this year.)
timated $127 million debut the largest opening for any maining in the top 10 at the 2013 original, including Marielle Heller's Mister Rog-
domestically and $350.2 Walt Disney Animation Stu- box office for 17 weeks and the voices of Idina Menzel ers drama "A Beautiful Day
million worldwide, accord- dios release. ultimately grossing $1.27 (Elsa), Kristen Bell (Anna) in the Neighborhood," star-
ing to studio estimates Sun- Disney opted for the week billion. Propelled in part by and Josh Gad (Olaf). Also ring Tom Hanks and Mat-
day. ahead of Thanksgiving to the hit song "Let it Go," "Fro- returning are songwriters thew Rhys, is also in the
The opening for the Walt open "Frozen 2," meaning it zen" begat a flurry of mer- Kristen Anderson-Lopez Oscar mix. It opened in
Disney Co.'s "Frozen 2" bur- will get a significant second chandizing, untold num- and Robert Lopez, though third with $13.5 million. That

This image released by Disney shows Elsa, voiced by Idina Menzel, from left, Anna, voiced by Kris-
ten Bell, Kristoff, voiced by Jonathan Groff and Sven in a scene from the animated film, "Frozen 2."
Associated Press

bers of Elsa dresses and a the music this time hasn't was roughly on target for
Broadway musical. It won be quite as enthusiastically the Sony Pictures release,
two Academy Awards, for received. And it's again di- which cost about $25 mil-
best animated feature and rected by Chris Buck and lion to make. It, too, should
original song. Jennifer Lee, who's now the be positioned to play well
Matching that total gross chief creative officer at Dis- through the holidays.
won't be easy sledding, but ney Animation. Less successful was the
"Frozen 2" has a head start. "Frozen 2" helped thaw a crime thriller "21 Bridges,"
Cathleen Taff, distribution frigid November box office. starring Chadwick Bose-
chief for Disney, granted The last three weeks have man as a police detective
there's a "high bar" set by seen a string of films rooted who puts Manhattan on
"Frozen," but she's confi- in decades-old intellec- lockdown for a manhunt.
dent of the film's enormous tual property fizzle, includ- Up against steep compe-
appeal. ing Warner Bros.' "Doctor tition for adult audiences,
"We can't open to a num- Sleep," Paramount Pictures' "21 Bridges" raised $9.2 mil-
ber this big without every- "Terminator: Dark Fate" and lion in tolls for STXfilms, a
body coming out to see Sony Pictures' "Charlie's An- so-so result for a film that
it," said Taff. "We're look- gels." cost $33 million to produce.
ing forward to a good run But Elsa could do only so The film is produced by An-
through the holidays given much to move the needle. thony and Joseph Russo,
kids are going to start get- The weekend was actually whose last movie as direc-
ting out of school this next down 7% from the same tors, "Avengers: Endgame,"
week." frame last year, accord- did slightly better.
Reviews and audience re- ing to data firm Comscore. Todd Haynes' legal thriller
action have been good for In 2018, there were simply "Dark Waters" opened in
"Frozen 2," but not as strong more big movies in the mar- four theaters with a strong
as they were for the origi- ketplace, including "Ralph per-theater average of
nal. The CinemaScore was Breaks the Internet," "Creed $27,467. The Focus Fea-
A- for "Frozen 2," whereas II" and "Fantastic Beasts: tures release, starring Mark
"Frozen" yielded an A+. Crimes of Grindelwald." Ruffalo, is based on a 2016
Critics were also a little less Last week's top film, "Ford New York Times Magazine
taken with the sequel: 75% v Ferrari" slipped 49% in its article about a corporate
fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, second week to a distant attorney who sued the Du-
compared to 90% for the second with $16 million. pont chemical company
original. James Mangold's film, also over the health and en-
But scores were still very a Disney release (cour- vironmental effects of a
high, including a 93% Rot- tesy of the studio's acquisi- "forever chemical" used by
ten Tomatoes audience tion of 20th Century Fox), Dupont.q