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“Avatar: The Way of Water” comfortably maintained its lead at the North American box office for the fifth week in a row, grossing an estimated $38.5 million during the long holiday weekend, according to industry observer Exhibitor Relations on Sunday.
That lifted the domestic total for the Disney/20th Century movie, about a blue-skinned species on a faraway moon, to an astonishing $570 million, on top of a $1.33 billion worldwide total.
“The Way of Water,” a sequel to the top-grossing film of 2009, might be the first picture to make $2 billion globally since the Covid epidemic.
“M3GAN,” a scary-doll thriller from Universal and Blumhouse, came in second place over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, with an estimated $21.2 million. The lifelike doll in question, intended to be a friend for a little orphan girl, develops a disturbing personality of her own.
Universal’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” an animated “Shrek” spinoff, finished third with $17.3 million.
“A Man Called Otto” came in fourth place with $15 million. The Sony picture, based on the Swedish novel “A Man Called Ove,” stars Tom Hanks as a world-class grump who is forced to deal with some kind of neighbors.
At $11.6 million, a new Lionsgate picture, action-thriller “Plane,” came in fifth. Gerard Butler is a pilot who is forced to collaborate with a convicted killer (Mike Colter) to defend passengers when their plane crashes in a remote Philippine Forest controlled by armed groups.
The following people rounded out the top ten:
“House Party” (4.5 million dollars)
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Wakanda Forever) ($2.6 million)
“The Whale” ($1.8 million) is a film.
“I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston ($1.4 million)
“Waltair Veerayya” ($1.2 million), according to AFP
