“Avatar: The Way of Water” claims No.
It was a quiet weekend overall, especially for Hindi-language blockbuster “Pathaan” entering the top five and post-Oscar nominees dropping films like “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “The Fabelmans.”
“Avatar 2” in the first place in North America is matched only by the first “Avatar”, and, in the last 25 years, it was beaten by “Titanic” (which remained in the first place for 15 weeks). All three were directed by James Cameron.
Globally, “The Way of Water” has now grossed approximately $2.1 billion, passing “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” becoming the fourth-highest grossing film of all time (of which Cameron has directed three).
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 spin-off has grossed over $140.8 million in North America and was recently made available to stream at home as well.
Third place went to Sony’s “A Man Called Otto” with $6.8 million from 3,957 locations. The Indian film “Pathaan,” starring Shah Rukh Kha in his first role in five years, took fourth place.
And horror meme-able “M3GAN,” a Universal release, rounded out the top five with $6.4 million in the fourth weekend, bringing the domestic total to $82.3 million.
Neon also debuted the horror film “Infinity Pool,” written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg and starring Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård, in 1,853 locations after its Sundance debut. The romantic comedy “Maybe I Do,” with Diane Keaton, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandan, earned $562,000 from 465 screens. And Lukas Dhont’s Cannes-winning childhood drama “Close” opened on four screens in New York and Los Angeles, earning $68,143.
Many studios with best picture nominations also chose to take advantage of Tuesday’s Oscar nominations with sizable re-releases. “Everything everywhere at once,” which received 11 nominations, returned to theaters by playing on 1,400 screens that earned $ 1 million. The A24 release has grossed $71 million domestically so far. Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans,” nominated for seven Oscars, also expanded to 1,962 screens in North America and took an additional $760,000, bringing its domestic total to $16 million. And Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” also added a few hundred screens, earning $1 million over the weekend. It has made $2.4 million so far. The Oscars build-up could continue in the coming weeks – the event doesn’t take place until March 12.
Some of the weekend’s highest-profile releases are star-driven comedies streaming live: Netflix has “You People,” with Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonah Hill and Lauren London, and Amazon Prime Video offers “Shotgun Wedding.” With Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Coolidge.
Seven weekends into “Avatar 2,” theater owners are also looking for the next big blockbuster, which is still a long way off. “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” won’t hit theaters until February 17.
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