New movies like Plane and House Party were no match for Avatar: The Way of Water and the killer doll horror M3GAN at the box office this weekend. The two holdovers topped the charts again, according to studio estimates Sunday. In first place for the fifth weekend in a row was James Cameron's Avatar sequel, which added an estimated $31.1 million through Sunday. That total will likely balloon to $38.5 million by the end of Monday's Martin Luther King holiday the AP reports. As of Sunday, the film's domestic total rests at $562.9 million (the 13th biggest of all time) and its global total is $1.89 billion. Avatar 2 needs to pass $1.92 billion to trump Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is currently the sixth highest grossing film of all time globally.
Second place went to Universal and Blumhouse's M3GAN, which in its second weekend in theaters added $17.9 million through Sunday and an estimated $21.2 million including Monday. The modestly budgeted thriller that cost a reported $12 million to produce has made $59.8 million in North America. The Gerard Butler action pic Plane, a Lionsgate acquisition for release in North America, finished fifth with a better-than-expected $10 million in its first three days. The film received better-than-average reviews with 75% positive from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Sixth place went to the second major new offering this weekend, House Party, a reboot of Reginald Hudlin's 1990 hit that spawned several spinoffs. The R-rated, youth-oriented comedy did not score well with critics.
Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
- Avatar: The Way of Water, $31.1 million.
- M3GAN, $17.9 million.
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, $13.4 million.
- A Man Called Otto, $12.7 million.
- Plane, $10 million.
- House Party, $3.9 million.
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, $2.2 million.
- The Whale, $1.5 million.
- I Wanna Dance With Somebody, $1.2 million.
- Waltair Veeraya, 905,000.
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