‘How are so many of us out of work?’: Moana 2 has the biggest Thanksgiving opening weekend in history as industry struggles

As far back as I can remember, Thanksgiving weekend has been my favorite weekend for movie-going. There’s always at least one big release, and there’s always so much hype around it that you can’t help but feel excited. Dating back nearly four decades, huge hits like Toy Story 1 and 2, Frozen, Back to the Future Part II, and Coco have all dropped on Thanksgiving weekend.

So it says a lot that—despite some mixed reviews—Moana 2 set the record for biggest Thanksgiving opening weekend in history. The sequel raked in a whopping $135.5 million, just in domestic box office sales alone. It beat Frozen for the number one spot. Frozen!!

Moana 2 is also the highest-grossing worldwide opening weekend for an animated film in history. These victories come shortly after Inside Out 2 became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, surpassing Dune 2‘s box office profits in just two weeks’ time.

You’d hope the story ends there. Surely, such massive numbers mean a flourishing animation industry, right? Unfortunately, that’s decisively not the case, even and especially within Disney / Pixar itself. Pixar laid off 14% of its staff shortly after Inside Out 2 was completed earlier this year. To add insult to injury, the layoffs additionally meant that many people who worked on the film weren’t able to receive the bonus compensation which Pixar gives out for major successes.

Money-wise, animation has never done better. But the industry itself has rarely fared worse.

Job losses abound behind the successes

Given that the animation industry is making record profits this year, you’d assume that the industry itself is thriving. Unfortunately, that could hardly be further from the truth. There have been massive layoffs throughout the industry—so much so, many animators, designers, and storyboard artists are switching careers or debating whether or not to do so. The layoffs are so bad, online animation hub CartoonBrew started a “layoff tracker” in 2023 and quickly gave up several months into 2024.

Meanwhile, major studios like Disney and DreamWorks have been moving towards outsourcing production away from in-house staff. It’s similar to how many other industries in the US are moving away from in-house staff and towards freelance labor. Can’t be bothered to pay for that pesky health care! Outsourced or freelance labor also means even less benefits and protections for workers in an industry famous for forcing workers to work unreasonable hours.

All year, there’s been whispers about whether or not they’ll strike. The Animation Guild reached a tentative agreement with studios on November 23. But there’s a major issue with the current deal: animators are not able to opt out of having their work being used to train AI. As more and more studios see AI as a way to cut labor costs, that feels very much like training your executioner how to wield an axe. In fact, last year, a Netflix animated series invented a “labor shortage” to excuse the use of AI backgrounds.

So, as an animator lover, what can you do to help? Clearly, it’s not enough to simply support animated work by going out to the theater—although you should definitely keep doing that. My suggestion is to use your voice—through social media or what have you—to spread the word and let people know that you support the people who make the animation industry so incredible. Use the Animation Guild’s hashtag “#StandWithAnimation.” And if there’s a specific artist you like, chances are they have personal work available for purchase—support them by buying it!

It would be lovely to know that Moana 2‘s success benefits the people who made it such a hit.