Disney's Next Movie Faces An Impossible Task In Keeping A Major Movie Streak Alive

Published Nov 13, 2026, 4:00 PM EST Josh is a film critic and journalist with over nine years of experience in the entertainment industry. Entering the field at just 17 years old, Josh went on to make his own website, The HoloFiles, and social media brand Star Wars Holocron, the most followed Star Wars fan account on Twitter/X. A member of both the Chicago Indie Critics and the Hollywood Critics Alliance, Josh has covered major industry events including Star Wars Celebration and, most recently, CinemaCon for ScreenRant. His work has appeared in outlets such as Game Rant and Comic Book Resources (CBR), and he has been featured in publications including the BBC and The New York Times. Each holiday season, around Thanksgiving and Christmas in the United States, Disney typically has a big movie release in theaters. This time, it's Avengers: Doomsday). But Before Doomsday, however, Disney has another film set to debut — Hexed. An animated feature, Hexed tells the story of a young girl who discovers that she possesses magical powers. With a star-studded cast that includes the aforementioned Steinfeld, along with Rashida Jones, Jodie Foster, Walton Goggins, Tracey Ullman, Henry Winkler, and Dan Stevens, Disney has high hopes that Hexed will be the next big animated hit for the studio. The hopes aren’t just high, either — expectations remain high, too, especially after the performance of the studio’s last two Thanksgiving releases. Just last year, for example, Disney’s Zootopia 2 grossed well over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The studio’s Thanksgiving release before that, Moana 2, similarly grossed over $1 billion as well. That puts Hexed in a difficult position, as its predecessors have performed incredibly well at the box office. Disney's recent track record is a promising sign, and yet, there are reasons to be skeptical of it repeating their successes, given the important differences that separate them. Hexed could really turn out to be a great movie, but matching what the studio was able to accomplish with Moana 2 or Zootopia 2 will undoubtedly be a challenging task to pull off, and arguably one that has little chance of happening. Disney's Two Previous Thanksgiving Releases Both Made $1 Billion © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection As stated, both of Disney’s previous Thanksgiving releases in recent years have grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The first was Moana 2, which released in 2024. Ironically, this movie was originally developed for Disney+ before the studio opted to shift it to a theatrical release. Moana 2 had a budget of $150 million, which is relatively cheap compared to many of Disney’s other releases in recent years. That made its final box office total of over $1.059 billion all the more impressive; Moana 2 had remarkable staying power in theaters as well, remaining in theaters until past the new year. Moana 2's success was impressive, but not something that came out of the blue. Its predecessor became one of the studio's biggest original movies when it released in 2016, earning Academy Award nominations, a box office revenue of $687 million, and and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95% that accurately reflects how well it was recieved by audiences and critics alike. Its popularity on its own put its sequel in a great spot. One year later, Disney had another hugely successful animated movie on their hands — Zootopia 2. A sequel to the first Zootopia film, which also came out in 2016, Zootopia 2 once again released on the week of Thanksgiving, just in time for audiences’ breaks from school and work. And, as stated, Zootopia 2 blew all expectations out of the water, proving to be one of the biggest Disney hits in recent history. And it too rode the coattails of a very successful animated release. Zootopia defied box office expectations to gross a whopping total of $1.026 billion, a particularly rare feat for a non-sequel, and not something that can easily be replicated. Like Moana 2, Zootopia 2 had a budget of $150 million. However, the latter grossed even more than Disney’s previous Thanksgiving release, taking in $1.87 billion at the worldwide box office. And, just like Moana 2, Zootopia 2 was in theaters well into the new year as well. Hexed Hitting $1 Billion Would Be A Major Shock Disney has high hopes for Hexed, in part because of the A-list cast they brought in. Yet, they may need to keep their expectations in check, especially when comparing their new film to previous Thanksgiving releases. After all, Disney has struggled with original films in recent years, and Hexed fits right into that category. It’s not a prequel, nor is it a sequel, which gives Hexed the added task of convincing audiences to come to the theater despite not knowing these characters or this world that they live in. That's not say there is no precedence for this to happen, as both Frozen and Zootopia did extremely well as original stories, but not every film can be expected to take off in the way that they did. As a result, few expect Hexed to actually hit the $1 billion mark at the box office. That may be a good thing, too, as tempering expectations and having smaller hopes for a movie like Hexed may help it in the long run. Interestingly, though, Hexed is actually outpacing some other Disney original movies. Hexed is currently projected to make up to $50-$70 million across the five-day (Wednesday to Sunday) holiday week, which would actually put it ahead of some other Disney releases in recent times. Encanto, for example, made just over $40 million in this time frame. How Much Does Hexed Actually Need To Be A Success? Hexed reportedly has a budget of around $200 million, meaning that it cost more than both Moana 2 and Zootopia 2. This makes sense, especially when factoring in inflation and the all-star cast assembled for Hexed. With a budget like this, Hexed will need to make at least $500 million to begin getting into profitable territory. When comparing Hexed to Encanto, getting to $500 million may be difficult, however. Encanto had similar projections and ultimately made just over $260 million, which was by no means a bad total, especially when considering that movie theaters were just fully reopening when the film came out. Why Disney Needs Hexed To Be A Hit Walt Disney Stduios Hexed may be an even more important film to Disney than Moana 2 or Zootopia 2. Frankly, Disney has relied on sequels, prequels, and franchise continuations for years now, so Disney really does need to show that they are capable of making successful original films as well. The pressure only increases when factoring in the many original movies that Disney has released in recent years that haven’t been successful too. Release Date November 25, 2026 Runtime 99 minutes Director Jason Hand, Fawn Veerasunthorn Writers Dana Ledoux Miller, Jared Bush, Jon Robin Baitz Producers Roy Conli, Yvett Merino Flores