LOS ANGELES, Jan 23 — Avatar: The Way of Water gave no sign of relinquishing its box office domination, taking in an estimated US$19.7 million (RM84.4 million) in its sixth weekend out in North America, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.
The James Cameron sci-fi epic thus sailed past the US$2 billion mark globally, best in the pandemic era, with accumulated ticket sales of US$598 million domestically and US$1.42 billion internationally.
That makes the Disney/20thCentury film only the sixth movie ever to surpass the US$2 billion mark (not adjusted for inflation), though it still trails the all-time leader, the original Avatar, by US$1.5 billion.
Showing considerable buoyance after five weeks out, Universal’s family-friendly Puss in Boots: The Last Wish rose one spot from last weekend to place second, at US$11.5 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.
Down one spot was scary-doll thriller M3GAN from Universal and Blumhouse Productions, at US$9.8 million. The film’s title doll, created as a companion to a young orphan, gradually takes on a creepy life of her own.
In fourth spot was Sony’s new release Missing, at US$9.3 million. Storm Reid stars as a teenager desperate to find her mother (Nia Long) after she disappears during a vacation in Colombia.
David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research called that opening “impressive” for a crime thriller, adding, “The reviews are excellent.”
And in fifth, down one spot from last weekend, was Sony’s feel-good A Man Called Otto, at US$9 million. Tom Hanks plays the title curmudgeon, a character based on popular Swedish novel A Man Called Ove.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
Plane (US$5.3 million)
House Party (US$1.8 million)
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (US$1.5 million)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (US$1.4 million)
The Whale (US$1.3 million) — AFP
