'Avatar 2' tops box office for 7th weekend
“Avatar: The Way of Water” held the No. 1 spot on the domestic box office chart for the seventh consecutive weekend with an additional $15.7 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Overall it was a quiet weekend, mostly notable for Hindi-language blockbuster “Pathan” breaking into the top five and Oscar nominations for films like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Fablemans”.
The first-place North American run of “Avatar 2” is matched only by the first “Avatar,” and over the past 25 years, was bested by “Titanic” (which held first place for 15 weeks). All three were directed by James Cameron.
Globally, “The Way of Water” has grossed an estimated $2.1 billion (of which Cameron directed three), surpassing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” to become the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time. directed).
In second place was Universal and DreamWorks’ family-oriented offering “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”, which earned $10.6 million in its sixth weekend. The animated spinoff has grossed over $140.8 million in North America and was recently made available to stream at home.
Third place went to Sony’s “A Man Called Otto” with $6.8 million from 3,957 locations. The Indian film “Pathan”, starring Shah Rukh Khan in his first role in five years, secured the fourth position.
and the meme-able horror “M3GAN,” a universal release, moved into the top five with $6.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to $82.3 million.
Neon also opened the horror film “Infinity Pool”, written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg and starring Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård, to 1,853 locations following its Sundance debut. The romantic comedy “Maybe I Do” with Diane Keaton, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon earned $562,000 from 465 screens. and Lucas Dhont’s Cannes-winning boyhood drama “Close” opened to $68,143 on four screens in New York and Los Angeles.
Multiple studios opted to capitalize on Tuesday’s Oscar nominations buzz by re-releasing them in a big way, claiming the Best Picture nominees. “Everybody’s All at Once”, which received a leading 11 nominations, returned to theaters for a run on 1,400 screens, where it grossed $1 million. The A24 release has earned $71 million domestically to date. Steven Spielberg’s “The Fablemans”, nominated for seven Oscars, expanded to 1,962 screens in North America and took in an additional $760,000, bringing its domestic total to $16 million. And Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” also added a few hundred screens, bringing in $1 million for the weekend. It has earned $2.4 million to date. The Oscars boost may continue in the coming weeks — the show isn’t until March 12.
Several of the weekend’s highest-profile releases were both star-driven comedies that went straight to streaming: Netflix’s “You People” with Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonah Hill and Lauren London, and Amazon Prime Video’s “Shotgun Wedding.” offered. ,” with Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Coolidge.
Seven weekends into “Avatar 2,” theater owners are also searching for the next big blockbuster, which is still a ways off. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania” doesn’t hit theaters until February 17.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsay Bahar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.
