It is something of a big gamble, but the conditions are lining up for us to have a truly impressive Thanksgiving box office figure this year. Why? One big reason: entertainment giant Disney (DIS) will be rolling out Moana 2, and that represents a potentially huge win for Disney and the movie theater as a whole. That notion helped push Disney up modestly in Wednesday afternoon’s trading.
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Certainly, Moana 2 by itself will be a draw, and a pretty major one at that, noted a CNBC report. Moana 2 represents the first outing for Moana since 2016, which seems almost like a lifetime ago, given the events of the last eight years. But couple that with the other releases currently in theaters—particularly the still-popular “Glicked” combination that only just had its opening weekend—and suddenly, a real possibility opens up.
The five-day Thanksgiving weekend could, ultimately, turn in over $200 million in ticket sales, the report noted, and may even be the third, or second-highest Thanksgiving weekend in history. And eyes will be watching Thanksgiving weekend for more reasons than just these numbers, as Comscore senior analyst Paul Dergarabedian noted that Thanksgiving “…sets the tone for the year-end box office sprint.”
Moana Is Now the Most-Streamed Movie Ever
If this sounds like it is putting a lot of weight on Moana, reconsider. A Wall Street Journal report notes that Moana is now the most-streamed movie ever. It has been viewed for over 1 billion cumulative hours despite the fact that it was never that big a draw at the box office.
But Disney is more than just Moana, certainly, and new reports suggest one of the first things we will actually see is a new hotel at Disney World. The previously-announced Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge resort has been scrapped, apparently, and will be replaced with the similarly-named Disney Lakeshore Lodge starting in 2027. Lakeside Lodge has been a thing ever since the pandemic, but it seemed to go quiet after the parks came back.
Is Disney Stock a Buy or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on DIS stock based on 15 Buys and five Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 27.46% rally in its share price over the past year, the average DIS price target of $124.29 per share implies 6% upside potential.
