Lindsey Bahr
AP – Avatar: The Way of Water claimed the number one spot on the domestic box office charts for the seventh weekend in a row with an additional USD15.7 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
It was a quiet weekend overall, notable mostly for the Hindi language blockbuster Pathaan that broke into the top five and the post-Oscar nominations re-releases of films like Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Fabelmans.
Avatar 2’s first-place North American run has only been matched by the first Avatar, and, in the past 25 years, bested by Titanic (which stayed in first place for 15 weeks). All three were directed by James Cameron.
Globally, The Way of Water has now grossed an estimated USD2.1 billion, passing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, to become the fourth-highest grossing film of all time (of which Cameron has directed three).
“James Cameron just keeps ticking off all the records and milestones,” said senior media analyst for Comscore Paul Dergarabedian. “And it’s still got a wide-open marketplace.”
PHOTO: AP
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks’ family-oriented offering Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, which made USD10.6 million in its sixth weekend.
The animated spinoff has earned over USD140.8 million in North America and was recently made available to stream at home, too.
Third place went to Sony’s A Man Called Otto with USD6.8 million from 3,957 locations. The meme-able horror M3GAN, a Universal release, snuck into fourth place with USD6.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to USD82.3 million. The Indian film Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Kha in his first role in five years, settled in fifth place with USD5.9 million from only 695 screens.
“A top five appearance is really impressive,” Dergarabedian said, noting that the marketplace over the past several years has presented opportunities for Indian films to break into the domestic top 10.
Neon also launched the horror movie Infinity Pool, written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg and starring Mia Goth and Alexander Skarsgård, in 1,853 locations following its Sundance debut. It made an estimated USD2.7 million.
The romantic comedy Maybe I Do, with Diane Keaton, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandan, made USD562,000 from 465 screens.
And Lukas Dhont’s Cannes-winning boyhood drama Close opened on four screens in New York and Los Angeles, earning USD68,143.
