Andrew Dalton
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Avatar: The Way of Water sailed to the top of the box office in its second weekend, bringing in what studios estimate on Sunday will be a strong USD56 million in North America – a sign that the sequel may stay afloat into the new year and approach the massive expectations that met its release.
James Cameron’s digital extravaganza for 20th Century Studios has made USD253.7 million domestically in its first 10 days of release, compared to USD212.7 million in the same stretch for 2009’s first Avatar, which would go on to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
While Cameron’s films like the Avatar original and Titanic tend to have serious legs at the box office, sequels tend to open big and decline quickly, complicating guesses on where the film will end up.
Its second-weekend drop-off from the USD134 million it made in its first was not precipitous, given the way blockbusters open.
“This is James Cameron’s first USD100 million opener,” said senior media analyst for Comscore “For this movie to have opened that big and only dropped 58 per cent, it shows it has staying power.”
Globally, The Way of Water is already the third highest-grossing film released in 2022, bringing in USD855 million putting it behind only Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion – and is a lock to surpass USD1 billion.
It’s also clear sailing for the film looking ahead, with more holiday time coming and no comparable competition until February, when Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is released.
Storms across the US could keep people home, however.
“The biggest foe that Avatar is facing at this moment is the weather,” Dergarabedian said.
Universal’s animated Shrek spinoff, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, featuring the voices of Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, finished a distant second with USD11.35 million in its opening weekend.
Sony’s biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody finished third with USD5.3 million.
The weekend’s biggest disappointment was Babylon, the epic of early Hollywood from La La Land director Damian Chazelle starring Brad Pitt and and Margo Robbie. In a nationwide release it brought in just USD3.5 million, finishing fourth.
The tepid, USD6.5 million opening weekend in October of director David O Russell’s Amsterdam, another film, set in a similar period, that combined prestige, scope, star power and a celebrated auteur, brought industry worries that audiences just weren’t flocking to theatres for such films.
The concerns proved justified, as Babylon barely made more than half of the opening of Amsterdam.
The coming weeks in theaters, streaming showings and any nominations it may get could help Babylon rise above bomb status.
“I would say Babylon is a movie that isn’t about the opening weekend,” Dergarabedian said. “We’ll have to see what it does in the coming weeks then into the new year, particularly if it gets more awards buzz.”
