‘Moana’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts’ hold strong at post-Thanksgiving box office

Following a massive box office performance during the Thanksgiving holiday, Disney’s “Moana” and Warner Bros.’ “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” continue to be the top performers, leading a host of other holdovers on a weekend that was as sleepy as expected.

In its second week, “Moana” pulled in another $28.4 million, surpassing analyst expectations of $25 million. The animated picture featuring the voices of Dwayne Johnson and newcomer Auli’i Cravalho has grossed $119.9 million domestically. When added to its international gross of $57.5 million, “Moana” has already made back its $150-million price tag.

“Fantastic Beasts” landed in second place in its third week with $18.5 million. Though such a performance is lower than analyst projections of $20 million, it is proof that the “Harry Potter” spinoff from J.K. Rowling is of major interest to its audience. The movie, starring Eddie Redmayne as a magical zoologist, has collected a total of $183.5 million domestically and $424.4 million from foreign countries, for a global gross of $607.9 million — a positive sign for the five-film series Rowling is expected to write for the studio.

Paramount’s “Arrival” took third place in its fourth week, with $7.3 million. The heady drama starring Amy Adams as a linguist recruited to communicate with extraterrestrials who have placed 12 spaceships around the globe has pulled in $73.1 million domestically.

“Allied,” also from Paramount, landed in fourth in its second week, adding $7.1 million in ticket sales for a domestic gross of $28.9 million. The World War II drama stars Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard.

Pulling up the rear in fifth place is Disney’s “Doctor Strange.” In its sixth week, the Marvel tale took in $6.5 million. The trippy film, led by Benedict Cumberbatch, has grossed a total of $634.9 million globally, $419.6 million of which is from international markets.

As for the week’s new releases, the only wide-release offering was the horror movie “Incarnate,” which opened to $2.6 million. Analysts expected it to do less than $5 million.

“Incarnate” stars Aaron Eckhart as an unconventional exorcist who confronts a demon that has possessed a young boy. But audiences and critics don’t appear pleased. The film received a C-minus CinemaScore from moviegoers, and critics have given it a 21% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The low-budget film, directed by Brad Peyton (“San Andreas”) and partly funded by Universal Pictures, is the latest effort from BH Tilt, an experimental label launched by “Ouija” and “The Purge” producer Jason Blum. BH Tilt makes inexpensive scary movies targeted to die-hard horror fans, so the company saves money on marketing and distribution. “Incarnate” ran in about 1,700 theaters, far less than the typical major horror movie.

Such an overall lackluster box office post-Thanksgiving is expected as the industry braces for major new releases — and award season fodder — as Christmas approaches. The weekend after Thanksgiving is usually one of the weakest three-day periods of the year for the movie business, coming after holiday audiences binge on new films. At the same time last year, for example, the only new major release was Universal’s horror-comedy “Krampus.”

On the limited-release front, Fox Searchlight released “Jackie,” the well-reviewed biopic in which Natalie Portman portrays First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The film garnered $275,000 from five theaters in New York and Los Angeles for an impressive per-theater average of $55,000.

In its second week, the Weinstein Co.’s “Lion,” starring Dev Patel, pulled $120,234 from seven theaters. Its gross to date is $279,382. Also in its second week, EuropaCorp’s “Miss Sloane,” starring Jessica Chastain and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, took in $123,036 from four locations.

The Casey Affleck drama “Manchester by the Sea” expanded to 156 theaters this weekend, its third, garnering $2.363 million. The Kenneth Lonergan-directed picture has brought in $4.4 million to date. Also in its third weekend, Focus Features’ “Nocturnal Animals,” directed by Tom Ford, earned $686,095 from 127 locations. It’s pulled in $2.7 million to date.

Next week will be another sleepy weekend with Paramount’s “Office Christmas Party” as the only new wide release. “Miss Sloane,” however, will expand to nearly 1,600 theaters, and Lionsgate’s awards hopeful “La La Land” will open in limited release.

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