“Avatar: The Way of Water” claimed the No. 1 spot on the domestic box office charts for the seventh weekend in a row with an additional
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 rereleases 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
Globally, “The Way of Water” has now grossed an estimated
“James Cameron just keeps ticking off all the records and milestones,” said
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks’ family-oriented offering “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish,” which made
Third place went to Sony's “A Man Called Otto" with
The Indian film “Pathaan,” starring
“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
Many studios boasting best picture nominees also chose to capitalize on the buzz of Tuesday’s Oscar nominations with sizable re-releases. “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” which got a leading 11 nominations, came back to theaters in force playing on 1,400 screens where it earned another
“We are seeing in real time the halo effect of the Oscar nominations on these best picture nominees,” Dergarbedian said. “The Oscar bounce is back, something we haven’t seen over the past couple of years.”
Several of the highest profile releases of the weekend were both star-driven comedies that went straight to streaming:
Seven weekends into “Avatar 2,” theater owners are also likely looking for the next big blockbuster, which is still a ways off. “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” doesn’t arrive in theaters until
But, as Dergarabedian said, “2023 is already looking more like 2019 rather than the last three years."
“This is great news for theaters,” he said. "You have the Oscar bounce in play, an Indian film in the top 5 and ‘Avatar’ breaking records left and right.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at
1. “Avatar: The Way of Water,”
2. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,”
3. “A Man Called Otto,”
4. “M3GAN,”
5. “Pathaan,”
6. “Missing,”
7. “Plane,”
8. “Infinity Pool,”
9. “Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist,”
10. “The Wandering Earth 2,”
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