“Five Nights at Freddy’s” has once again electrified the box office. Debuting in 3,412 theaters across the U.S. and Canada this weekend, the sequel defied expectations by raking in a staggering $63 million in ticket sales, as per studio estimates on Sunday.

Despite facing a wave of negative reviews, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” achieved the largest opening ever for the weekend following Thanksgiving. Typically, this period is known for quieter box office performances. It also marked the highest opening of the year for a PG-13 film and claimed the title of the second-largest horror debut, trailing only behind “The Conjuring: Last Rites.” The franchise, inspired by the popular video games, revolves around the eerie happenings at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, where the family-friendly robots turn deadly after dark.

Jim Orr, Universal’s head of domestic distribution, commented, “There’s been a lot of doom and gloom about the industry overall, but this movie helped drive the industry to the biggest first weekend post-Thanksgiving ever.”

The first installment, a Blumhouse production released two years ago, was an unexpected success. It premiered with an $80 million opening in October 2023, even with simultaneous streaming on Peacock. For the sequel, Universal opted for an exclusive theatrical release. With a reported production cost of just $36 million, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” is shaping up to be another blockbuster hit. This success underscores the substantial potential of theatrical releases, even as the industry speculates about the implications of Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. for the future of moviegoing.

Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, noted that the teenage video gamer demographic is frequently underestimated. This weekend’s results demonstrate that when the right film comes along, this audience is eager to experience the communal thrill of the cinema with fellow fans.

It was also enough to push the more family-friendly “Zootopia 2” into second place in its second weekend in theaters, where it added $43 million in North America. But the Disney film isn’t hurting after its record Thanksgiving opening. With $219 million from 52 territories internationally, including China, the running global total is an eye-popping $915.8 million. It’s officially pushed Walt Disney Studio releases over the $5 billion mark globally — the only studio to do so this year.

“Wicked: For Good,” also a Universal release, landed in third place in its third weekend with $16.8 million from 3,985 theaters, brining its domestic total just shy of $297 million.

Fourth place went to Gkids’ anime “Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution” which opened to an estimated $10.2 million, while Lionsgate’s “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” rounded out the top five with $3.5 million, pushing its running global total to $210 million.

“Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” was close behind with $3.3 million from 1,198 theaters. Quentin Tarantino combined “Kill Bill: Vol. 1″ and “Vol. 2” into a four hour and 35-minute epic (including a 15 minute intermission). The Lionsgate release got a rare A+ CinemaScore from an audience that was 72% male. According to the studio, most of the 70mm and 35mm showings were sold out. Due to the demand for the film prints, the studio is exploring an extended run. “Kill Bill” star Lucy Liu had a big weekend at New York’s AMC Lincoln Square where the independent drama “Rosemead” made $50,243 from one screen.

A filmed version of the Tony-winning revival of “Merrily We Roll Along,” starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez and released by Sony Pictures Classics, opened just outside of the top 10 with $1.2 million from 1,084 screens.

The running annual domestic box office just this weekend surpassed $8 billion. Since the pandemic, it’s only surpassed $9 billion once, in 2023, when “Barbie” topped the year. Prior to 2020, it would regularly hit $11 billion.

“It’s not impossible, but every movie is going to have to overperform in some way if we’re going to get to the $9 billion threshold,” Dergarabedian said.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” $63 million.

2. “Zootopia 2,” $43 million.

3. “Wicked: For Good,” $16.7 million.

4. “Jujutsu Kasen: Execution,” $10.2 million.

5. “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” $3.5 million.

6. “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair,” $3.3 million.

7. “Eternity,” $2.7 million,

8. “Hamnet,” $2.3 million.

9. “Dhurandhar,” $1.9 million.

10. “Predator: Badlands,” $1.9 million.