Domestic revenue hit $10 billion faster than any other year in history, but only a lucky few are participating in the boom as major studio films from the likes of Ang Lee and Warren Beatty vanish without a trace.
'Allied,' starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, and Billy Bob Thornton's 'Bad Santa 2' also are opening nationwide Wednesday as the long holiday gets underway at the box office.
Robert Zemeckis' spy thriller 'Allied' earned $600K Tuesday while Warren Beatty's 'Rules Don't Apply' and the R-rated sequel 'Bad Santa 2' also open Thanksgiving weekend.
Some tracking services even show the stand-alone movie approaching $150 million in its domestic launch as Lucasfilm and Disney plot a series of titles expanding the 'Star Wars' empire.
Holdover 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' will be 'Moana's' closest competior over the long Thanksgiving holiday, which also sees the nationwide debut of 'Bad Santa 2' and the launch of 'Lion' at the specialty box office.
From 'Moana' to 'Rogue One,' "event culture" is taking over and threatening to steal audiences of small pics and Oscar hopefuls. Says one veteran, "We keep pushing the extreme between winners and losers."
Ang Lee's 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' and Open Road's 'Bleed for This' were both KO'd, while edgy, R-teen drama 'The Edge of Seventeen' fared only slightly better.
The 'Harry Potter' spin-off is the first tentpole of the year-end holidays; 'The Edge of Seventeen' and 'Bleed for This' also open nationwide, while prospects for Ang Lee's 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' are bleak.
Holdover superhero tentpole 'Doctor Strange' and animated family film 'Trolls' are projected to beat both new offerings and retain the top two spots on the box-office chart.
The Justin Timberlake-voiced 'Trolls' and director Mel Gibson's 'Hacksaw Ridge' also click with audiences in welcome news for Hollywood after a tough fall; 'Loving' and 'Moonlight' propser at the specialty box office.
Combined, Benedict Cumberbatch's supherhero movie, 'Trolls' and Mel Gibson's 'Hacksaw Ridge' are chasing away the blues at the U.S. box office. One reason? They all earned an A CinemaScore.