Hexed is tracking for a strong Thanksgiving opening, according to Boxoffice Pro’s long range forecast published on October 30, 2026. The forecast puts it at $35 million to $45 million over its three day weekend in North America, and $50 million to $70 million across the five day Thanksgiving period. It opens in cinemas on Wednesday, November 25, 2026, and the forecast places it at the front of the holiday weekend.
Boxoffice Pro’s forecast also covers Focker In-Law, the Universal comedy opening in the same frame, forecast at $30 million to $40 million over three days. The two films lead a Thanksgiving frame that Boxoffice Pro described as quieter than the last two years, when sequels drove the holiday box office to much higher totals.
A figure of $75 million for Hexed has circulated online, and several outlets have addressed the gap between that number and the published forecast. Comic Basics reported that the $75 million figure came from fan accounts citing Boxoffice Pro, while the published forecast tells a more measured story. Laughing Place reported the same published ranges, and said the numbers could rise as release day gets closer.
What Hexed is about
Hexed is Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 65th animated feature, and it arrives as an original story rather than a sequel. Boxoffice Pro described it as a film about an awkward teenage girl who, with her Type A mother along for the ride, discovers that she possesses a talent for magic. The story follows that discovery out of suburbia and into a world of witches, where the mother and daughter relationship sits at the centre of the plot.
Hailee Steinfeld leads the voice cast, according to Particle News. The film is directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand, from a screenplay by Jared Bush, Dana Ledoux Miller and Jon Robin Baitz. Reuters reported that Veerasunthorn described it as a mother daughter love story, about a mother and daughter rebuilding their relationship after years of strain. That framing gives it a family story inside its fantasy setting, rather than a plot built only around magic and spectacle.
How the Hexed forecast compares with past Disney originals
The forecast looks strong when set against Disney’s recent original animated films at Thanksgiving. Encanto, released in 2021, earned $27.2 million over three days and $40.5 million over five days, according to Disney by Mark. Wish, from 2023, earned $31.6 million over five days, and Strange World, from 2022, earned $18.8 million over five days, according to Comic Basics. Even the low end of the five day forecast, at $50 million, would pass all three of those five day totals.
The comparison with Moana, from 2016, is tighter. Laughing Place reported that the original Moana put up more than $56 million over its three day weekend and scored over $82 million over the full holiday period. The high end of the Hexed five day forecast, at $70 million, would fall short of that Moana total, The claim that it could be the biggest original animated debut since Moana rests on the circulating $75 million figure, not on the published Boxoffice Pro ranges, and outlets covering the forecast have flagged that distinction.
Disney’s last two Thanksgiving releases were sequels, and they set a different bar. Boxoffice Pro noted that Moana 2 earned $225 million domestically across the five day period, and that both Moana 2 and Zootopia 2 opened above $100 million over three days. Hexed is not expected to reach those sequel totals, and Boxoffice Pro framed the 2026 Thanksgiving frame as substantially less lucrative for the cinema industry as a whole for that reason. The forecast for Hexed should be read against original films, not against sequels with built in audiences.
What could move the Hexed forecast before release
Boxoffice Pro published its forecast on October 30, more than three weeks before release, and long range forecasts often move. Laughing Place said the projected numbers could go up as release day approaches and interest builds. Advance ticket sales, updated tracking and word of mouth after early screenings are the usual signals that shift a forecast, and Particle News listed updated tracking, advance ticket sales trends and opening weekend word of mouth as the next signals to watch.
Marketing has already begun, with a new Wicked Fun teaser released and a promotional event held at Linvilla Orchards in Media, Pennsylvania, according to Archynetys.
For now, the published forecast is the firmest public guide to Hexed. Boxoffice Pro puts it at $35 million to $45 million over three days and $50 million to $70 million over five days, ahead of Focker In-Law in the same frame, and ahead of the five day openings of Encanto, Wish and Strange World if it reaches even the low end of its range.