Thanksgiving at the nation’s box offices was “solid if not record-breaking,” as the Disney/Pixar animated “instant classic” Coco grabbed the holiday weekend crown as most-popular film.
While the movie is a hit, its success came amid controversy for the head of Pixar who in the past week took a leave of absence from his post.
John Lasseter, executive producer of “Coco,” stepped aside due to what he called “missteps.”
The chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation said he recently had a number of “difficult conversations.” This came in the wake of reports that Lasseter had been caught up in the recent swirl of sex harassment allegations across the nation.
The musical ode to Mexico “Coco” debuted with an “impressive” $71.2 million over the five day holiday period that started Wednesday, said movie industry analyst Paul Dergarabedian at comScore.
“The film is an instant classic,” Dergarabedian said, with a full 20 percent of the surveyed audience saying they would pay to see it twice.
The film is a musical ode to Mexican history, music, life and culture.
“Coco” opened two weeks ago in Mexico, and was estimated to have sold $153.4 million globally in pesos and dollars as of Sunday.
The animated film follows Miguel, a youngster who dreams of becoming a musician, despite his family’s ban on music. He ends up in the Land of the Dead and spends much of the movie figuring out his family history and why his relatives reject music.
It was directed by Lee Unkrich of “Toy Story 3” fame, and it was seven years in making. Unkrich said that many people “have lost loved ones” and think about them and want to keep their memories alive,” and thus viewers everywhere could relate to the Mexican “Day of the Dead” celebration theme.
When Disney tried to patent “Dia de los Muertos,” Spanish for “Day of the Dead,” it was met with community concern and eventually withdrew the patent application.
In second place, “Justice League” was poised to deal $63 million in sales this weekend, bringing its 10-day sales mark in the U.S. and Canada to $171.5 million. Globally, it has a $481.3 million total, according to Warner Bros.
“Wonder” held down third place, with an estimated $32.3 million in holiday sales.
Rounding out the top 10 movies in the United States and Canada, as reported by the studios and gathered by comScore, were “Thor: Ragnarok” ($24.3 million), “Daddy’s Home 2” ($18.63 million), “Murder On The Orient Express” ($18.62 million), “The Star” ($6.9 million), “A Bad Mom’s Christmas” ($6.8 million), “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” ($6.2 million) and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” ($5.9 million).
–Staff and wire reports