'Coco' tops Thanksgiving weekend box office, beats 'Justice League' to a pulp
Coco won the Thanksgiving weekend box office this year, crushing the Justice League.
The latest film from Disney's Pixar pulled in $71.2 million over its first five days ($49 million came from the three-day weekend). Meanwhile, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment's Justice League brought in $59.7 million. Coco played at 3,987 theaters in North America from Wednesday to Sunday.
That's a big win for Pixar. But not a new number one for the Disney empire. Coco earned the fourth best all-time opening for the Thanksgiving weekend. It came short of its Disney family: Toy Story 2 (1999), Frozen (2013), and Moana (2015). Last year, Moana posted the second best with $82.1 million.
The movie chronicles the adventures of a boy named Miguel on the Mexican holiday Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). He wants to become a musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz, but his family (dead and alive) do not support his ambition since music separated his ancestors generations ago.
The film has inspired a strong turnout of Latino moviegoers, who comprised 36 percent of all ticket buyers, according to comScore's PostTrak. Coco also ranks as the top-grossing film of all time in Mexico at $53.4 million, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
Coco received positive reviews from critics and impressed moviegoers over the weekend. About 66 percent of audiences surveyed by comScore’s PostTrak called Coco “excellent” and another 23 percent rated it as “very good," according to Variety.
However, some audiences were quite angered with the animated short ahead of Coco titled Olaf's Frozen Adventure. So, be prepared Coco moviegoers for a 21-minute Frozen special ahead of the actual film.
Kerry Flynn is a business reporter for Mashable covering the tech industry. She previously reported on social media companies, mobile apps and startups for International Business Times. She has also written for The Huffington Post, Forbes and Money magazine. Kerry studied environmental science and economics at Harvard College, where she led The Harvard Crimson's metro news and design teams and played mellophone in the Band. When not listening to startup pitches, she runs half-marathons, plays with puppies and pretends to like craft beer.
