Avatar: The Way of Water Dives In with Below-Expectations $134 Million Debut
by Sam Mendelsohn - Box Office News
December 18, 2022


After a 13 year gap, Avatar: The Way of Water is finally here. James Cameron’s first of many planned sequels to Avatar, the world’s highest grossing film of all time (which itself topped Cameron’s own Titanic as the highest grossing film of all time), opened below expectations with $134 million.

Yes, this is still a huge opening, but it is not the sort of start you would hope for on a film that, as Cameron claims, would “have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history” to break even. With that said (and whether or not that statement regarding the film’s breakeven point is fully accurate), this is not a film to count out, and it could see strong numbers for the rest of the year and well into the new year.




Either way, it’s great to have a heavy hitter back in theaters again, and Avatar: The Way of Water led an overall box office of $152 million, making this the second highest grossing weekend of the past five months.

Internationally the film opened to $301 million, bringing the global weekend total to $435 million. It’s the second biggest global start of the year, right at the tail of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ $442 million global bow.







Beyond Avatar 2, there’s hardly any action at the box office. This weekend, the runners up had a collective cume of a pitiful $18 million.

Yes, the slate of new titles this month would likely have been stronger if there weren’t a high profile sequel sucking up all the oxygen, but even in 2019 when Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker opened in the pre-Christmas weekend, the other films in theaters totaled $70 million.




It would be nice to say that Avatar 2 is leading a strong end of the year box office wave, but it is more accurate to say it is keeping the box office on life support.

Hopefully the next week’s releases, which include Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Babylon, and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, will help balance things out.







There isn’t much of note in the rest of the box office, and nothing outside of the top five even grossed over $1 million. The one film to hold notably well was Violent Night, which held onto second place in its third weekend, coming ahead of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever after spending two weekends behind it.

The R-rated Christmas action-comedy was down just 36% (about the same as last weekend) with $5.6 million, bringing the total to $35 million. With a worldwide cume of $55 million, the $20 million budgeted film has one of the season's merrier balance sheets.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed3983672324/?ref_=bo_hm_hp







December 16-18, 2022: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Avatar: The Way of Water $134,100,226
2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever $5,346,843 / $418,938,028
3. Violent Night $5,054,665 / $35,016,750
4. Strange World $2,210,255 / $33,788,315
5. The Menu $1,627,823 / $32,050,322
6. Devotion $780,189 / $18,616,143
7. The Fabelmans $743,740 / $8,659,666
8. It's a Wonderful Life (re-release) $734,571
9. Black Adam $445,515 / $167,667,895
10. I Heard the Bells $310,988 / $4,994,221

Somehow im not surprised buddy :(

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2022 has been Disney's worst year on record, with even expected hits like Marvel's Black Panther Wakanda Forever and Thor Love and Thunder having underperforming, and everything on Disney Plus, from She-Hulk to Star Wars Andor, losing Disney money ... and then you have the giant bombs like Lightyear and Strange World on top of that!

Now, Disney needs Avatar The Way of Water to bail them out ... can it do that? In this video, we'll go through Disney's year of flops, and the chances Avatar can improve matters.

I'm not big on action movies in general, so it's probably not surprising that I see scenes from Avatar and have no clue why anyone would bother with it.

Avatar: The Way of Water Surges to $881 Million Worldwide Cume, Newcomers Open Soft as Storm Takes Toll on Christmas Weekend Box Office
by Sam Mendelsohn - Box Office News
December 25, 2022


This Christmas weekend box office looked a lot like last year’s, with a mega-blockbuster (Spider-Man: No Way Home then, Avatar: The Way of Water now), leading the way, a modest grossing toon in second place (Sing 2 then, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish now), and a slew of other contenders that largely failed to find an audience.

The weekend was depressed by having the historically low-grossing Christmas Eve fall on Saturday rather than a weekday (last year the holiday weekend was likewise down as the 24th fell on Friday) and by Storm Elliott which has afflicted a large chunk of the country.

The numbers could improve with the actuals, but for now the total box office for the weekend is estimated at just $82.8 million, which is down from last year’s $144 million. The weeks ahead still have strong potential, particularly for the season’s big ticket title Avatar 2, but there’s no denying that the overall slate is not connecting with audiences once again this season.







James Cameron’s epic sci-fi sequel brought in $56 million this weekend (a drop of 58%) and including Monday estimates it grossed $82 million for the four-day, bringing the cume to $280 million after 11 days.

That’s the fourth best 11 day cume of the year, behind Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s $294 million, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ $297 million, and Top Gun: Maverick’s $308 million.



Avatar 2 may pull ahead of those two MCU films in the coming week, though catching up to Maverick is more of a long shot. By its 11th day, the first Avatar was at just $237 million, but that film just kept playing and playing for months to come as it went on to become the highest grossing film of all time, finishing its initial run with $750 million.

Avatar 2 may not have the same juice, but we’re still looking at what may be a top three film since the start of the pandemic. Worldwide the cume is now $881 million, with $1 billion right around the corner, and it will soon be the year’s second highest global grosser after Top Gun: Maverick ($1.489 billion).







The second place film over the Christmas weekend is Universal’s animated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which opened Wednesday and grossed $11.4 million for the three-day and $18.6 million for the four-day, bringing the cume to $24.7 million through Monday.

The best comp is last year’s Sing 2, which also opened in the shadow of a huge franchise film the Wednesday ahead of the Christmas weekend, but unfortunately the gross of Puss in Boots 2 isn’t holding up.

Sing 2 was at $47 million at the end of its sixth release day, almost double The Last Wish’s cume.



The Last Wish also can’t match up to the first Puss in Boots, which opened to $34.1 million back in 2011.

The opening on the toon’s sequel is comparable to Disney’s recent Strange World, which was a box office disaster as it opened to $18.9 million over the long Thanksgiving five-day weekend and has since tallied just $35.9 million.







Sony’s Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody, which opened Friday, came in third place with a cume of $5.3 million for the three-day and $7.5 million for the four-day.

That’s a poor start for the $45 million budgeted biopic, but the strong audience response (A CinemaScore) could give it some solid holiday legs. Worldwide the total is $10.1 million.







Coming in fourth place is Paramount’s Damien Chazelle directed period epic Babylon, which stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie and looks at the period of Hollywood’s history when it was transitioning between silent and sound filmmaking.

Unfortunately, hopes that this $80 million budgeted film wouldn’t be another Amsterdam (another expensive period piece with an $80 million budget and a star studded cast that includes Margot Robbie) turned out to be in vain.




Babylon, which came out Friday, opened to just $3.5 million for the three-day and $5.4 million for the four-day. That’s even worse than Amsterdam’s $6.4 million opening, and the audience response is worse as well, with a C+ CinemaScore compared to Amsterdam’s B.

Even adjusting for Christmas Eve and the poor weather, and even if this legs out better than Amsterdam (which finished with just $14.9 million domestic and $31.2 million worldwide), this still looks like one of the year’s biggest flops.

The film opens internationally next month, though it’s hard to imagine other markets making up for the poor domestic showing.







Rounding out the top five is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which continues to add to its already large cume.

The $3 million three-day and $4.7 million four-day puts it at $427 million through Monday, and the worldwide total is $801 million.







The notable specialty box office release is The Whale, which expanded from six to 603 theaters and grossed $921k over the three-day and $1.3 million over the four-day, bringing the cume to $2.9 million.

These aren’t huge numbers for the much buzzed about Darren Aronofsky directed film, which stars Brendan Fraser as a morbidly obese man trying to connect with his estranged teenage daughter, after it scored best of the year theater averages in its opening weekend.

However, we’ll see if it can leg out better from here than the season’s other Oscar hopefuls.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed3950117892/?ref_=bo_hm_hp







December 23-25, 2022: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Avatar: The Way of Water $63,338,220 / $261,019,906
2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish $18,532,370
3. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody $4,765,000
4. Babylon $3,603,368
5. Violent Night $3,513,430 / $41,981,890
6. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever $3,492,584 / $426,147,985
7. The Whale $1,008,819 / $2,566,763
8. The Fabelmans $745,250 / $9,919,706
9. The Menu $678,252 / $33,858,095
10. Strange World $413,277 / $35,602,519

Avatar: The Way of Water Nabs 4th Best 3rd Weekend Ever with $63.4 Million as Overall Box Office Rises in New Year's Weekend
by Sam Mendelsohn - Box Office News
Jan. 1, 2022


There’s no denying that 2022 was not a great year at the box office. The domestic cume for the entire year came to $7.37 billion, down considerably from 2019’s $11.36 billion, and by pre-pandemic standards it was the worst year since 1999.

Yes, it was up 64% from 2021’s $4.48 billion cume, but 2021 was largely a dud year until the Memorial Day weekend “reopening.”




Comparing just June through December, this year looks like less of an improvement with $4.67 billion for the final seven months compared to 2021’s $3.84 billion.

Much of that improvement came from a strong summer, and the lead evaporates away if you compare September through December, with 2021’s cume coming to $2.435 billion, ahead of 2022’s $2.096 billion.




We can only hope that 2023 brings greater box office fortunes, but for now we can celebrate that 2022 ended on a positive note, at least relatively.

The overall box office this weekend came to $98.7 million, ahead of last weekend’s $94.7 million nearly on par with the previous year’s final weekend (December 31-Jan 2) cume of $98.9 million.







Of course, the dominant force at the box office is Avatar: The Way of Water which is up 0.2% from last weekend for a third weekend of $63.4 million.

That gives The Way of Water the fourth best third weekend of all time, and the $422 million cume (and with Monday estimates that’s $441 million) means it has already grossed over three times its opening weekend and is ahead of Top Gun: Maverick at the same point in its release ($395 million).

Internationally the film grew 4% over last weekend, bumping the global cume to $1.397 billion million. The last time we saw legs like this on a massive winter blockbuster was, appropriately enough, 13 years ago with the release of the first Avatar.







The runner-up this weekend is Puss in Boots: The Last Wish which grew 31% from last weekend, bringing in another $16.3 million. The toon may have opened soft, but it is looking much better this weekend with a cume of $60.7 million (and an estimated $66.1 million through Monday).

The holds are strong abroad as well, and the new global cume is $135 million. Overseas it is tracking closely to Sing 2 despite under performing it at home (after two weekends Sing 2 grossed $90.2 million domestically).

Considering Sing 2 grossed $245 million internationally, the $90 million budgeted The Last Wish is in a good place even if it can’t approach the $555 million global cume of the first Puss in Boots.







Surprisingly, third place went to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which finished in sixth last week.

The MCU film may be in its eighth weekend, but it still has stamina, rising 38% from last weekend to gross $4.8 million. The cume through Monday is $440 million domestic and $820 million worldwide.







Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody finished in fourth with $4.3 million, down 11% from the last frame. It’s chugging along steadily even though the numbers are still low, with the cume coming to $16 million through Monday.

Internationally the biopic was up 29% in holdover markets, and the worldwide total is now $29.1 million. This definitely isn’t the next hit biopic, but if the holds continue to impress then it may eke out an okay cume following its disappointing opening.

Still, it will need a lot of growth to cover its $45 million budget.







In fifth place is Babylon with $2.7 million, a drop of 24%. Through Monday, the $80 million budgeted period drama has tallied just $11 million.

If there’s hope for the film, it’s from overseas where it begins its rollout later in the month, but it’s hard to imagine the pricey film recovering from such a weak domestic showing.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed3916563460/?ref_=bo_hm_hp







December 30, 2022 - January 1, 2023: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Avatar: The Way of Water $66,840,000 / $424,957,914
2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish $16,780,000 / $61,187,330
3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever $4,830,000 / $437,975,653
4. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody $4,000,000 / $14,620,000
5. Babylon $2,600,000 / $10,009,502
6. Violent Night $2,110,000 / $47,500,295
7. The Whale $1,372,242 / $5,819,439
8. The Menu $1,111,000 / $36,169,899
9. The Fabelmans $1,030,000 / $12,105,220
10. Strange World $513,000 / $37,004,290

Avatar: The Way of Water Stays on Top with $45 Million, Races to $517 Million Domestic and $1.7 Billion Worldwide, M3GAN Smashes Expectations with $30 Million Start
by Sam Mendelsohn - Box Office News
Jan. 8, 2023


While Avatar: The Way of Water remains the major box office story one week into the new year and should continue to dominate in the weeks ahead, this weekend the film received a worthy companion to help power the January box office.

The sci-fi horror film M3GAN, which comes from the lucrative Blumhouse/James Wan partnership, smashed expectations to boast a frighteningly good $30.2 million opening. That wasn’t enough to dethrone James Cameron’s latest epic, which grossed $45 million in its fourth weekend, but the two films were able to carry an overall box office of $104 million.

It’s the first weekend since July where two films grossed above $20 million, the sixth weekend since July where the overall box office hit the nine-digits, and the second time since July that two weekends in a row did so. Unfortunately, the top two films made up 72% of the overall box office, and just one other film even grossed above $5 million (compare this to Jan 10-12, 2020 when the entire top ten was above $5 million).

As well as some of the individual films are performing, the box office blues will continue until the overall slate picks up.







After the 33% drop in its fourth weekend, The Way of Water’s cume is now $517 million domestic and $1.708 billion worldwide, making it the seventh-biggest global grosser of all time. The domestic total puts it ahead of Top Gun: Maverick’s $467 million cume at the same point in its release, though The Way of Water’s holiday season release gives it a different trajectory.

This weekend, however, improves The Way of Water’s odds of holding its lead. Maverick’s fourth weekend was a hair under The Way of Water’s at $44.7 million, and assuming the actuals hold, then The Way of Water topped it to have the second-biggest fourth weekend of all time after the first Avatar ($50.3 million, though it’s cume was smaller with $431 million after its fourth weekend).

Maverick went on to gross another $252 million from there, and if The Way of Water manages to play on par with Maverick from this point on, that would give it a finish of $769 million and make it the fourth-highest domestic grosser ever (ahead of Avatar’s $750 million original release, though behind its $785 million cume which includes re-releases).







For the first time, Avatar: The Way of Water isn’t alone in celebrating strong box office returns. M3GAN’s killer $30.2 million debut is ahead of the openings of 2022’s two big horror hits Smile ($22.6 million opening, $106 million domestic cume) and The Black Phone ($23.6 million opening, $90.1 million domestic cume)

For a non-sequel, it’s the best horror opening since before the pandemic. M3GAN is behind previous James Wan produced franchise starters such as The Nun ($53.8 million opening, $117 million domestic cume) and Annabelle ($37.1 million opening, $84.3 million domestic cume), but the 94% on Rotten Tomatoes (a rarity for a mainstream horror film) and B CinemaScore (good for a horror film) bode well for its legs.

Worldwide the total is $45 million, and in like-for-likes abroad it is comparable to Smile and The Black Phone which respectively grossed $110 million and $71.3 million internationally. Considering the Universal film cost just $12 million, this one is creepy-robot-dancing all the way to the bank.







Universal also took third place with its toon-quel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which is holding very nicely as it drops just 22% in its third weekend, grossing an additional $13.1 million and bringing the total to $87.7 million.

That’s better than Sing 2’s $11.6 million weekend three last January, though the Sing sequel still leads in its overall cume ($109 million after its third weekend). Internationally The Last Wish is also holding well, with another $25.9 million pushing its global total to $197 million.







The Tom Hanks starring A Man Called Otto took fourth place with $4.2 million from 637 theaters, expanding from its four theater opening last weekend.

The budget here isn’t low (Deadline reported it’s around $50 million), so the Sony film will need to break out from the specialty box office box when it expands nationwide next week in order to turn a profit.







Black Panther: Wakanda Forever rounds out the top five with another $3.4 million, bringing the total to $445 million.

The global cume is $827 million.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/article/ed4151444484/?ref_=bo_hm_hp







January 6-8, 2023: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Avatar: The Way of Water $45,000,000 / $516,789,379
2. M3GAN $30,200,000
3. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish $13,121,000 / $87,706,835
4. A Man Called Otto $4,285,480
5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever $3,398,000 / $445,437,616
6. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody $2,401,000 / $19,699,722
7. The Whale $1,541,201 / $8,582,731
8. Babylon $1,430,000 / $13,523,894
9. Violent Night $741,000 / $49,421,735
10. The Menu $713,000 / $37,655,950

January 13-16, 2023: Weekend Studio Estimates (MLK)

1. Avatar: The Way of Water $40,600,000 / $572,401,348
2. M3GAN $21,720,000 / $60,253,510
3. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish $19,040,000 / $112,009,975
4. A Man Called Otto $15,325,000 / $21,548,126
5. Plane $12,025,000
6. House Party $4,415,000
7. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever $2,800,000 / $449,712,372
8. The Whale $1,803,825 / $11,096,765
9. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody $1,520,000 / $22,248,718
10. Waltair Veerayya $1,200,000

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/2023W02/occasion/us_mlkday_weekend/?ref_=bo_wey_table_2

January 20-22, 2023: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Avatar: The Way of Water $20,000,000 / $598,276,353
2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish $11,500,000 / $126,460,470
3. M3GAN $9,800,000 / $73,287,510
4. Missing $9,300,000
5. A Man Called Otto $9,000,000 / $35,346,249
6. Plane $5,250,000 / $19,457,616
7. House Party $1,775,000 / $7,185,508
8. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond $1,459,515
9. The Whale $1,281,248 / $13,191,971
10. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever $1,255,200 / $451,735,952

January 27-29, 2023: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Avatar: The Way of Water $15,968,532 / $620,849,303
2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish $10,498,885 / $140,713,795
3. Pathaan $9,483,113
4. A Man Called Otto $6,651,387 / $45,954,251
5. M3GAN $6,258,245 / $82,161,970
6. Missing $5,673,023 / $17,567,440
7. Plane $3,815,377 / $25,365,142
8. Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist $3,164,174
9. Infinity Pool $2,514,364
10. The Wandering Earth II $1,436,722 / $3,006,525