Movie

'Avatar: The Way of Water' wins the North American box office again as new holiday movies, including Brad Pitt's period drama, 'Push in Boots 2' and a Whitney Houston biopic, receive lukewarm responses.

• Dec 26, 2022

AceShowbiz - "Avatar: The Way of Water" still soars in its second week at box office. The epic sci-fi movie leads the U.S. chart over Christmas with an estimated $56 million, thwarting the competition from all newcomers.

"This is James Cameron's first $100 million opener," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore "For this movie to have opened that big and only dropped 58%, it shows it has staying power."

The long-awaited "Avatar" sequel is expected to collect $82 million between Friday and Monday, which would bring its domestic tally to $278 million. Internationally, the James Cameron-directed pic has grossed $601 million, bringing its global total to $855.4 million. It has become the fifth-highest grossing movie of 2022 after just 10 days in theaters.

The movie from Disney and 20th Century cost $350 million-$400 million to produce, making it one of the most expensive pics in modern Hollywood history. Cameron previously said it would need to gross in the $2 billion range to be considered a success.

Meanwhile, all three new major releases fell short of expectations, no thanks to horrible winter that kept moviegoers at home. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" debuts at No. 2 with an estimated $11.4 million.

"Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody", a biopic starring Naomi Ackie as the late Whitney Houston, finishes third with approximately $5.3 million. Even Damian Chazelle's epic period drama "Babylon", starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, lands on the fourth place with only $3.5 million on its first weekend.

"The biggest foe that 'Avatar' is facing at this moment is the weather," Dergarabedian said of the extreme weather conditions, which raise the concerns about cases of COVID, the RSV virus and the flu.

Speaking particularly of "Babylon" underwhelming performance, he said, "I would say Babylon is a movie that isn't about the opening weekend. We'll have to see what it does in the coming weeks then into the new year, particularly if it gets more awards buzz."

Rounding out the top five this week is "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever", which adds an estimated $3 million to its domestic gross. Meanwhile, "The Whale" saw an amazing 536.5% rise from last week, making approximately $$921,329 and jumping from No. 14 to No. 7 on its third weekend.

Top 10 of North America Box Office (Dec. 23-25, 2022):

1. "Avatar: The Way of Water" - $56 million
2. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" - $11.4 million
3. "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody" - $5.3 million
4. "Babylon" - $3.5 million
5. "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" - $3 million
6. "Violent Night" - $1.9 million
7. "The Whale" - $921,329
8. "The Menu" - $617,000
9. "The Fabelmans" - $550,000
10. "Strange World" - $410,000