Exhibitor Relations, a market observer, reported Sunday that “Avatar: The Way of Water” showed no signs of giving up its dominance at the box office, earning an estimated $19.7 million in its sixth weekend of release in North America. With total ticket sales of $598 million domestically and $1.42 billion internationally, the James Cameron sci-fi epic easily surpassed the $2 billion milestone globally, setting a record for the pandemic age.
It is only the sixth movie to cross the $2 billion milestone (without accounting for inflation)
With the original “Avatar” still the all-time leader, the Disney/20th Century picture is only the sixth movie to cross the $2 billion milestone (without accounting for inflation). Universal’s family-friendly “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” showed significant vigor after five weeks of absence, moving up one spot from last weekend to take second with $11.5 million over the Friday through Sunday weekend. M3GAN, a terrifying doll horror from Universal and Blumhouse Productions, dropped one slot to $9.8 million. The doll in the movie’s title, made to accompany a young orphan, gradually develops a spooky personality of her own.
Sony’s most recent film, “Missing,” came in at number four with $9.3 million. Nia Long plays the mother of Storm Reid’s character, a teenager who is frantic to find her mother after she vanishes while on vacation in Colombia. That start was “outstanding” for a crime thriller, according to Franchise Entertainment Research’s David A. Gross, who also noted that “the reviews are excellent.” In fifth place, down one rank from the previous weekend, with $9 million, came Sony’s uplifting film “A Man Called Otto.” The role of the title curmudgeon, played by Tom Hanks, is based on the well-known Swedish book “A Man Called Ove.”
Rounding out the top 5 were
- ‘Plane’ ($5.3 million)
- ‘House Party’ ($1.8 million)
- ‘That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime’ ($1.5 million)
- ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($1.4 million)
- ‘The Whale’ ($1.3 million)