James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way Of Water dominated the North American charts over the weekend and crossed the $500m milestone on Saturday, its 23rd day of release, becoming the third film of the pandemic era to do so.
Disney/20th Century Studios/Lightstorm’s action fantasy tentpole earned an estimated $45m in 4,340 locations over its fourth weekend for a $516.8m running total.
The mighty session combined with a superb $30.2m number two bow by horror M3GAN from Universal/Blumhouse/Atomic Monster to drive box office to a 66% gain on the corresponding weekend in 2022.
Approximately $6m of Avatar: The Way Of Water’s haul came from Imax screens, which have generated an estimated $67m to rank as the fifth highest Imax result of all time.
The behemoth is the second highest-grossing film released in North America in 2022, trailing Top Gun: Maverick’s $718.8m. The other pandemic era release to earn more than half a billion at the North American box office is 2021 release Spider-Man: No Way Home on $814.1m.
Avatar: The Way Of Water has reached an estimated $1.708bn through Sunday, consolidating its status as the top global earner of all films released in 2022. Cameron has said his film will need to gross $2bn worldwide to break even. 2009 predecessor Avatar remains the highest-grossing film at the global box office on an unadjusted $2.92bn including $785.2m in North America.
Turning to the rest of the charts, M3GAN reportedly cost around $12m and marks another box office hit for Jason Blum’s Blumhouse. The film about an artificially intelligent doll that takes on a life of its own is the first horror film to gross more than $30m in January since The Devil Inside back in 2012. Furthermore, it is one of only two horror sci-fi releases alongside Universal’s Nope in 2022 to open on more than $30m since Alien: Covenant in May 2017.
DreamWorks Animation’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is nearing $100m after three weekends and ranks third on $87.7m through Universal. Colombia Pictures expanded its Tom Hanks vehicle A Man Called Otto from four sites to 637 and it has earned a notable $4.3m after two sessions. Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever rounds out the top five on $445.4m after nine weekends in play.
A24 is enjoying a solid run for The Whale starring Oscar contender Brendan Fraser. The drama held firm in seventh place in its fifth session, earning $1.5m after expanding from 623 to 835 for an $8.6m running total.
Like The Whale, Searchlight Pictures’ The Menu is one of the few late 2022 adult-oriented releases to buck a grim trend of underperformance. The satire ranks 10th on an excellent $37.7m after eight sessions.
Two top 10 studio releases that have disappointed are Paramount’s Babylon from Damien Chazelle, which sits in eighth place on $13.5m after three weekends, and Steven Spielberg’s well-reviewed The Fablemans, which ranks 11th on $13.4m through Universal after nine.
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