Here's a box office benchmark you don't see very often, if ever: A major Hollywood star has two No. 1 theatrical openings in the same calendar month, that feat going to Dwayne Johnson.
For November, Johnson marked the first opening at Amazon MGM Studios Red one on November 15 with $32.1 million and helps the star deliver Disney's best Thanksgiving opening ever. Moana 2 Which has the potential to reach $200 million within 5 days.
In fact, over the weekend Wednesday and Sunday, moviegoers get their double dose of Johnson spending about $218 million on both. Moana 2 and Red one.
From what we've gathered, along with our conversations with distribution sources, no other star has ever achieved this box office record. There have been some cases where stars have opened two #1 films within a month of each other, but not in the same calendar month, for example Chris Pratt with Super Mario Bros movie (April 5, 2023; $146.3 million for 3 days) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5, 2023; $118.4 million); Chris Hemsworth with Marvel Avengers (May 4, 2012; $207.4 million) and Snow White and the Huntsman (June 1, 2012; $56.2 million) and Tom Hanks with toy story 2 (November 26, 1999; $57.3 million for 3 days) and The green mile (No. 2 on December 10, 1999 with $18 million).
There was a lot of buzz in December 2002 when Leonardo DiCaprio released two films within five days of each other: a Martin Scorsese film; Gangs of New York From Miramax and Steven Spielberg Catch me if you can From DreamWorks, they debuted on December 20 and 25, respectively. However, this anomalous release strategy did not result in a stellar debut opening.
Johnson saw his media agenda so fine-tuned over the past few months by Amazon MGM and Disney that both families got a decent boost. He appeared at the NYC premiere of the film Red one And the Hawaii and London premieres Moana 2.
In fact, it's such a box office triumph that Johnson could be screaming “chi hoo” at the Thanksgiving table today.
