With a month left to go in an erratic, stomach-churning year for Hollywood, the box office finally started to show some life again with the triple-threat of “Moana 2,” “Wicked” and “Gladiator II.” 'Moana 2,' the animated Walt Disney Co. musical sequel, exploded with $221 million over the long Thanksgiving weekend, while all movies combined generated a massive $420 million in revenue in the U.S. and Canada during the five-day Wednesday-to-Sunday period.
But Apple in particular has backtracked after a series of expensive commercial flops, including “Argylle” and “Fly Me to the Moon.” The company dramatically scaled down the planned release for the Brad Pitt-George Clooney two-hander “Wolfs,” a decision that angered director Jon Watts, who took the unusual step of publicly expressing dissatisfaction with his distribution partner to Deadline.