The animated Disney film Encanto wins Thanksgiving weekend box office
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the animated Disney film Encanto claimed victory during the domestic weekend box office. With $40 million ticket sales since Wednesday, November 24, it secured the number one spot over Ghostbusters: Afterlife and House of Gucci. Against a couple quality contenders, that’s not bad for the times we’re in.
For Encanto, Disney hoped to turn the tables on viewers by focusing on Mirabel, a 15-year-old Colombian girl who is struggling to keep her extended superhero family together as they lose their abilities. Meaning “charm” in Spanish, Encanto is Disney’s 60th animated feature film that tells the story of the Madrigals, a remarkable family who live hidden in the Colombian mountains in an enchanted place known as Encanto.
The family surname “Madrigal” is also a musical term for a song having two or more vocal parts, which perfectly characterizes the combination of sounds and voices. The animated Disney film Encanto is directed by Bush and Byron Howard (Zootopia) and Castro Smith serves as co-director. The screenplay is written by Jared Bush (Zootopia) and Charise Castro Smith (The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez).
Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) also contributes to Encanto with eight original songs that he wrote and co-produced. Miranda stated he and his cousins from Puerto Rico are so close that they once got matching tattoos, much to his aunt’s disgust. The Madrigals remind him of his own relatives. “That was the most matriarchal family. Everyone still lived in the house, and everyone brought their checks to Abuela, and she reallocated the funds as she saw fit,” said Miranda.
Seems as if many of us can also relate, as a number of American families are similar to the Madrigals. According to a survey released this year by the advocacy group Generations United, nearly one-fourth of all adults in the United States live in multi-generational households with three or more generations. That’s about 67 million people!
Released in theatres on Thanksgiving Day on November 24, the Disney film Encanto has not been made available on the streaming platform Disney+. The exclusive theatrical window will last until Christmas Eve, then the animated Disney film will be streamable for all Disney+ subscribers.