The new Disney musical Moana, featuring a score by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In the Heights), was the highest-grossing film of the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The animated film took in $81.1 million from 3,875 cinemas, besting the Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which grossed $65.8 million in 4,144 movie theatres.
Only Disney's Frozen enjoyed a higher five-day Thanksgiving weekend, taking in $93.6 million in November 2013. Internationally, Moana grossed $16.3 million. It will open in several other territories, including France, Spain, Russia, Mexico, Switzerland, South Africa, Iceland, Philippines, and more, next weekend.
The voice cast of Moana features Auli'i Cravalho as Moana Waialiki, Dwayne Johnson as Maui, Rachel House as Gramma Tala, Temuera Morrison as Chief Tui Waialiki, Christopher Jackson as the singing voice of Tui, Nicole Scherzinger as Sina Waialiki, Jemaine Clement as Tamatoa, Alan Tudyk as Hei Hei, Oscar Kightley as Fisherman, Troy Polamalu as Villager #1, and Puanani Cravalho as Villager #2.
Phillipa Soo, Tony-nominated for her work in the Broadway smash Hamilton, plays a villager of Motunui, Moana’s home island, in the film.
Moana “tells the story of a teenage girl from 2,000 years ago who sets sail to find a fabled island. She is joined by the demigod Maui,” voiced by Johnson. The film also features songs by Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa'i. Click here to read the critics’ reviews.
Cravalho, the 16-year-old actor who voices the lead role, is from Oahu, HI. During her time in New York, Playbill met her at the Disney offices to learn about Moana, the fearless teenager who sets sail to an island with an almighty demigod to help save her family from annihilation, and her time working with Miranda. Click here to read that interview.
Cravalho was discovered while singing at a charity event in Oahu.
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