Entertainment
Disney's 'Moana 2' rolling toward history-making Thanksgiving weekend
“Moana 2” is shaping up to be one of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ biggest wave riders ever.
The animated musical about the seafaring Polynesian princess delivered a domestic Thanksgiving Day haul of $28 million — the largest Turkey Day bounty ever, according to studio estimates released Friday.
And the wave keeps building. “Moana 2,” which features the voices of Auli‘i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson, ultimately could collect as much as $200 million in ticket sales over the five-day holiday weekend. That would shatter the previous Thanksgiving weekend mark set by Disney’s “Frozen 2,” which thawed to $125 million during its second weekend at the box office in 2019.
In just two days, “Moana 2” has generated $85.5 million in domestic ticket sales, studio estimates show. Including international markets, the sequel to the 2016 hit has raked in more than $109 million.
The original “Moana,” which also was released over Thanksgiving weekend, took in $81 million. It ultimately brought in $643 million in global ticket sales before swelling into one of the biggest streaming movie hits of all time.
Disney’s latest blockbuster has extended a welcomed resurgence at the box office for Hollywood studios at the end of a bumpy year. Movie houses and Hollywood executives have experienced a string of hot and cold theatrical releases, compounding the industry’s struggles due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s twin labor strikes by actors and writers.
Since last weekend, domestic distributors have generated an estimated $400 million in ticket sales with the triple threat of “Moana 2,” Universal Pictures’ “Wicked” and Paramount Pictures’ “Gladiator II,” according to Comscore.
Those three films have combined to generate $340 million in ticket sales since Nov. 22, Comscore said.
Once again, Disney displayed its moviemaking and marketing magic. “Moana 2” was initially conceived to be a Disney+ streaming series, but after Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger returned from retirement two years ago, Burbank executives reassessed the studio’s development and release strategy.
Disney had impressive stats to draw on: “Moana” has been the most streamed movie on Disney+ and was the No. 1 streamed movie among all services last year, according to Nielsen.
For months, Disney executives stayed mum on their plans — until the big reveal in early February when the studio announced “Moana 2” would arrive in theaters for Thanksgiving.
The movie, which had a budget of nearly $200 million, comes as moviegoers have been craving engaging fare for the entire family and movies running less than two hours. (“Moana 2” spans 1 hour, 40 minutes.)
Trailers for “Moana 2” played frequently during Disney’s earlier hit movie, “Inside Out 2,” which served to whet audiences’ appetites for Moana’s latest musical journey.
“All of the stars aligned to make this the box office phenomenon that it is,” Disney’s head of theatrical distribution, Tony Chambers, said.
The film is directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller. It features music by Abigail Barlow, Emily Bear, Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina. The sequel was produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios in its Vancouver and Burbank locations.
Entertainment
Stagecoach 2026: How to watch Friday’s livestream with Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman
Choosin’ to stay home instead of trekking out to Indio for this weekend’s Stagecoach festival? Don’t worry, you’ll be able to listen to all the country music your heart desires. You can get your country heartbreak on with Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman and Cody Johnson, and then rock out with Counting Crows. If you prefer EDM, you can catch Diplo and Dillstradamus (Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus) as Friday’s closing acts.
The festival will be livestreamed on Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video and Twitch beginning at 3 p.m. On Sirius XM’s The Highway (channel 56), you can listen to exclusive interviews and live performances along with a special edition of the Music Row Happy Hour. The station Y’Allternative will also be covering the festival on Friday evening.
Here are updated set times for the Stagecoach livestream Friday performances (times presented are PDT):
Channel 1
3:05 p.m. Noah Rinker; 3:25 p.m.; Adrien Nunez; 4 p.m. Ole 60; 4:25 p.m. Avery Anna; 5 p.m. Chase Rice; 5:55 p.m. Nate Smith; 6:50 p.m. Ella Langeley; 7:50 p.m. Bailey Zimmerman; 8:55 p.m. the Red Clay Strays; 10 p.m. Cody Johnson; 11:30 p.m. Diplo
Channel 2
3:05 p.m. Neon Union; 3:25 p.m. Larkin Poe; 4 p.m. Marcus King Band; 4:50 p.m. Lyle Lovett; 5:35 p.m. BigXthaPlug; 6:30 p.m. Noah Cyrus; 7 p.m. Wynonna Judd; 8 p.m. Counting Crows; 8:50 p.m. Sam Barber; 10 p.m. Dan + Shay; 10:45 p.m. Diplo featuring Juicy J; 11:05 p.m. Rebecca Black; 11:45 p.m. Dillstradamus
Sirius XM Music Row Happy Hour
1 p.m. Avery Anna; 2 p.m. Nate Smith; 2:30 p.m. Josh Ross; 3 p.m. Cody Johnson; 3:30 p.m. Gabriella Rose; 5:15 p.m. Nate Smith; 7:50 p.m. Bailey Zimmerman; 9:30 p.m. Cody Johnson; 11 p.m. Diplo
Sirius XM Y’Allternative
5 p.m. Ole 60; 6 p.m. Larkin Poe; 7 p.m. Marcus King Band; 8 p.m. Sam Barber
Movie Reviews
Movie Review: The Mortuary Assistant – HorrorFuel.com: Reviews, Ratings and Where to Watch the Best Horror Movies & TV Shows
Forget the “video game movie” curse; The Mortuary Assistant is a bone-chilling triumph that stands entirely on its own two feet. Starring Willa Holland (Arrow) as Rebecca Owens, the film follows a newly certified mortician whose “overtime shift” quickly devolves into a grueling battle for her soul.
What Makes It Work
The film expertly balances the stomach-churning procedural work of embalming with a spiraling demonic nightmare. Alongside a mysterious mentor played by Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire), Rebecca is forced to confront both ancient evils and her own buried traumas. And boy, does she have a lot of them.
Thanks to a full-scale, practical River Fields Mortuary set, the film drips with realism, like you can almost smell the rot and bloat of the bodies through the screen.
The skin effects are hauntingly accurate. The way the flesh moves during surgical scenes is so visceral. I’ve seen a lot of flesh wounds in horror films and in real life, and the bodies, skin, and organs. The Mortuary Assistant (especially in the opening scene) looks so real that I skipped supper after watching it. And that’s saying something. Your girl likes to eat.
Co-written by the game’s creator, Brian Clarke, the movie dives deeper into the demonic mythology. Whether you’ve seen every ending or don’t know a scalpel from a trocar, the story is perfectly self-contained. If you’ve never played the game, or played it a hundred times, the film works equally well, which is hard to do when it comes to game adaptations.
Nailed It
This film does a lot of things right, but the isolation of the night shift is suffocating. Between the darkness of the hallways and the “residents” that refuse to stay still, the film delivers a relentlessly immersive experience. And thankfully, although this movie is filled with dark rooms and shadows, it’s easy to see every little thing. Don’t you hate it when a movie is so dark that you can’t see what’s happening? It’s one of my pet peeves.
The oh-so-awesome Jeremiah Kipp directs the film and has made something absolutely nightmare-inducing. Kipp recently joined us for an interview, took us inside the film, discussed its details and the game’s lore, and so much more. I urge you to check out our interview. He’s awesome!
The Verdict
This isn’t just a cash-grab; it’s a high-effort adaptation that respects the source material while elevating the horror genre. With incredible special effects and a powerhouse cast, it’s the kind of movie that will make you rethink working late ever again. Dropping on Friday the 13th, this is a must-watch for horror fans. It’s grisly, intelligent, and genuinely terrifying.
Entertainment
Former Live Nation executive says he was fired after raising ‘financial misconduct’ concerns
A former executive at Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company, is suing the company, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated after he raised concerns about alleged financial misconduct and improper accounting practices.
Nicholas Rumanes alleges he was “fraudulently induced” in 2022 to leave a lucrative position as head of strategic development at a real estate investment trust to create a new role as executive vice president of development and business practice at Beverly Hills-based Live Nation.
In his new position, Rumanes said, he raised “serious and legitimate alarm” over the the company’s business practices.
As a result, he says, he was “unlawfully terminated,” according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
“Rumanes was, simply put, promised one job and forced to accept another. And then he was cut loose for insisting on doing that lesser job with integrity and honesty,” according to the lawsuit.
He is seeking $35 million in damages.
Representatives for Live Nation were not immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit comes a week after a federal jury in Manhattan found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had operated a monopoly over major concert venues, controlling 86% of the concert market.
Rumanes’ lawsuit describes a “culture of deception” at Live Nation, saying its “basic business model was to misstate and exaggerate financial figures in efforts to solicit and secure business.”
Such practices “spanned a wide spectrum of projects in what appeared to be a company-wide pattern of financial misrepresentation and misleading disclosures,” the lawsuit states.
Rumanes says he received materials and documents that showed that the company inflated projected revenues across multiple venue development projects.
Additionally, Rumanes contends that the company violated a federal law that requires independent financial auditing and transparency and instead ran Live Nation “through a centralized, opaque structure” that enables it to “bypass oversight and internal checks and balances.”
In 2010, as a condition of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger, the newly formed company agreed to a consent decree with the government that prohibited the firm from threatening venues to use Ticketmaster. In 2019 the Justice Department found that the company had repeatedly breached the agreement, and it extended the decree.
Rumanes contends that he brought his concerns to the attention of the company’s management, but his warnings were “repeatedly ignored.”
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