N.Y.C. — “Avatar: The Way of Water” by James Cameron has been the most popular movie at the box office for the sixth week in a row. This is the first movie to do this since “Avatar 2009,” which came out in 2009.
Studio estimates from Sunday show that “Avatar2” brought in an extra $19.7 million in North American theaters. The Walt Disney Co. says this is the case. It has made more than $2 billion around the world, making it the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time, ahead of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” “The Way of Water” is doing pretty well, making $598 million in the U.S. alone. Thanks to $56.3 million in overseas sales over the weekend, the “Avatar” sequel has now made a total of $2.02 billion around the world.”Spider-Man: No Way Home” was number one for six weekends last year, but that was spread out over seven weeks. You have to go back to Cameron’s first movie, “Avatar” to find a movie that was so popular for so long. “Avatar” ran for seven weeks in all. Before that, “Titanic” (1997), another Cameron movie, was the only one to do that in the 25 years before, and it did it for a whopping 15 weeks.
“The Way of Water’s” budget has finally reached the goal that director James Cameron set for it. Cameron has said before that the project would “break even” if it became “the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history.”
“The Way of Water” has done very well at the box office because it doesn’t have any strong competitors. The only new wide release from a major studio over the weekend was the thriller “Missing,” which was distributed by Sony’s Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films. “Missing,” a low-budget sequel to 2018’s “Searching,” is all told through online videos. Storm Reid plays a teenager who is looking for her mother. The movie opened with $9.3 million, which was more than the $7 million it cost to make.
January is usually a slow month at the box office, but a few successful repeats have kept things going.
Even though “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” didn’t have a big opening in December, it has been one of the few family-friendly movies that has stayed in theatres over the past month. It was in second place after its fifth week, when it made $11.5 million in the United States and $17.8 million abroad. “Puss in Boots 2” has made $297.5 million all over the world.
Also from Universal, “M3gan,” a scary movie about dolls, has continued to draw crowds. It made $9.8 million more at home in its third week, bringing its total to $73.3 million.
Even though it shouldn’t be a surprise that scary movies do well at the box office, “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks, has done well at a time when serious dramas for adults have had trouble. The movie is a remake of the Swedish movie “A Man Called Ove,” about a retired man who keeps trying to kill himself but is stopped by his neighbours every time. It made $9 million in its second week of wide release. As of Sunday, it had made $35.3 million in the United States.
Based on data from Comscore, these are estimates for North American theatres from Friday to Sunday. On Monday, we’ll get the final numbers for the United States.
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” made $19.7 million.
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” is in second place with $11.5 million.
$19.8 million for #3, “M3gan”
The fourth highest “missing” amount is $9.3 million.
At number five, with $9 million, is “A Man Named Otto.”
$6. “Airplane,” $5.3 million.
“House Party,” with $1.8 million, came in seventh.
“That Time I Became a Slime: The Movie,” with $1.5 million, is number eight.
Wakanda forever!, number nine ($1.4 million).
“The Whale,” at number ten, is worth $1.3 million.