By Rebecca Rubin

LOS ANGELES, (Variety.com – Disney is back at the top on Thanksgiving box office lists. The studio’s animated musical “Encanto” has earned $40 million in its first week. This is a strong haul at a time where families aren’t eager to go back to the cinemas.

Disney has a holiday tradition of releasing a family-friendly movie on Thanksgiving Day. “Encanto,” an animated film with high praise, is a sign that more parents feel comfortable bringing their children back to the cinemas. Although the movie’s opening weekend was five days, it is still far below the previous Thanksgiving releases by Disney such as “Frozen II,” which cost $1123.7 million in 2019, “Ralph Breaks the Internet”, and “Coco,” which cost $71 million in 2017. “Encanto,” however, has had the most successful opening weekend of any animated movie during the pandemic. This is notable as movies that are geared towards families have had difficulty selling tickets. In a normal year animation is often one of the most-grossing, if not the best-grossing genres.

MGM’s crime drama, “House of Gucci,” was also a hit with moviegoers. It earned $14.2 million on the first weekend, and $21.8million in five days. This proves that there is still a market for adult dramas as long as Lady Gaga stars in the lead role.

House of Gucci’s production budget of $75 million will allow it to rely heavily on overseas ticket sales in order to make a profit. The R-rated drama already has $12.8 million in international sales from 40 countries. This brings its global total to $34million. The biggest foreign markets were France ($1.9m), Mexico ($1m), and the United Kingdom and Ireland ($3.4m).

Similar to “Encanto”, the $120m cost of making it, before taking into account marketing fees and other costs was also costly. The productions of “Encanto” as well as “House of Gucci”, are exclusively being shown in theatres. This should result in increased ticket sales.

New this weekend to the theaters is Sony (NYSE)’s “Resident Evil” landed fifth. This is the reboot of the horror-series. Over the holiday period, the R-rated thriller made $8.8m. This was a disappointing result. Producing the film cost $25 million, which means that “Raccoon city” will not have to fight as hard to stay in red.