“Avatar: The Way of Water” topped the domestic box office for the seventh consecutive weekend, earning an additional $15.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
It was a quiet weekend overall, notable for the Top 5 in Hindi blockbuster Pathaan and the post-Oscar nomination re-releases of films like Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Fabelmans .
Avatar 2’s #1 spot in North America has been surpassed only by the first “Avatar” and has been surpassed in the last 25 years by Titanic (which stayed at the #1 spot for 15 weeks). All three were directed by James Cameron.
Globally, The Way of Water has now grossed an estimated $2.1 billion, surpassing Star Wars: The Force Awakens to become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time (three of which Cameron has directed) .
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks’ family-focused offering Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which grossed $10.6 million in its sixth weekend. The animated spin-off has grossed over $140.8 million in North America and was recently made available for home streaming as well.
Third place went to Sony’s “A Man Called Otto” with $6.8 million from 3,957 locations. The memorable horror “M3GAN,” a Universal release, snuck into fourth place in its fourth weekend at $6.4 million, bringing its domestic total to $82.3 million.
“Pathaan,” starring Shah Rukh Kha in his first role in five years, came in fifth with $5.9 million from just 695 screenings.
According to Variety, the film broke box office records in North America – the most prominent being that on January 25, the film landed the biggest opening day ever for a Hindi-language production. The report went on to say that “Pathaan” grossed an estimated $1.86 million on opening day at 694 locations in North America, the best average per theater for any current release!
Following its Sundance debut, Neon also launched the Brandon Cronenberg-written and directed horror film Infinity Pool, starring Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgard in 1,853 locations. It made an estimated $2.7 million. The romantic comedy “Maybe I Do,” starring Diane Keaton, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandan, grossed $562,000 across 465 screens. And Lukas Dhont’s Cannes-winning youth drama Close ran on four screens in New York and Los Angeles and grossed $68,143.
Many studios nominated for Best Picture also chose to capitalize on the excitement of Tuesday’s Oscar nominations with sizeable new releases. “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” which received 11 leading nominations, returned to theaters and played to 1,400 screens, where it grossed an additional $1 million. A24’s release has grossed $71 million domestically to date. Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, which was nominated for seven Oscars, was also expanded to 1,962 screens in North America and grossed an additional $760,000, bringing its domestic total to $16 million. And Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” also added a few hundred screens and made $1 million over the weekend. It has grossed $2.4 million to date. The Oscar boosts could continue in the coming weeks too – the show isn’t until March 12th.
Some of the weekend’s high-profile releases were both star-driven live-stream comedies: Netflix had “You People,” starring Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonah Hill and Lauren London, and Amazon Prime Video offered “Shotgun Wedding,” starring Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Coolidge.
Seven weekends after Avatar 2, theater owners are probably also looking for the next big blockbuster, which is still a long way off. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th.
Estimated Friday-Sunday ticket sales in US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, with Wednesday-Sunday in parentheses. The final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. “Avatar: The Way of Water,” $15.7 million.
2. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” $10.6 million.
3. “A Man Named Otto”, $6.8 million,
4. “M3GAN”, $6.4 million.
5. “Pathaan”, $5.9 million.
6. “Missing,” $3.8 million.
7. “Plane,” $3.8 million.
8. “Infinity Pool”, $2.7 million.
9. “Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist,” $2.4 million.
10. The Wandering Earth 2, $1.4 million.