James Cameron and Avatar: The Way of Water, the long-awaited sequel to Avatar (2009), debuted atop the box-office weekend with $134 million over its first three days in theaters.
While it is hard to say at this point exactly how much Avatar: The Way of Water will eventually make, it should make for interesting box-office watching over the next few weeks. The film finished $128.4 million ahead of the second-place film, Violent Night, which held onto second place with $5.6 million over the weekend to bring its three-week total to $35.5 million. Meanwhile, last weekend’s top film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever managed $5.4 million over the last three days, dropping it to a third place finish this weekend. The Marvel film now boasts a six-week total of $419 million, so it’s not all bad. Similarly dropping a spot to finish in fourth place was Strange World with $2.2 million. This gives the film a four-week total of $33.8 million. Also dropping one place to fifth was The Menu which added $1.7 million over the weekend to bring its overall total over the last five weeks to $32.1 million.
Devotion similarly fell a spot to finish in sixth place with $825,000 over the weekend. The film now claims a six-week total of $18.7 million. Holding its ground in seventh place was Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans with $750,000. This gives the film a six-week total of $8.6 million. Dropping two spots to finish in eighth place was the latest film from the DC Cinematic Universe, Black Adam which brought in $500,000 in its ninth week of release to bring its overall total to $167.7 million. I Heard the Bells dropped a spot to finish in ninth with $310,000 this weekend. This gives the film a three-week total of $5 million. Finally, in its second week of release, Empire of Light cracked the top ten to with $235,000 over the weekend, raising its total to date to $472,000.
After bringing in $1.2 million over the last three weeks, Spoiler Alert took leave of the top ten this weekend. Also departing, after nine weeks, and a total of $67.9 million, was the George Clooney/Julia Roberts romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise.
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Weekend Box Office (December 16th – December 18th)
- Avatar: The Way of Water…$134.0 Million
- Violent Night…$5.6 Million
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever…$5.4 Million
- Strange World…$2.2 Million
- The Menu…$1.7 Million
- Devotion…$825,000
- The Fabelmans…$750,000
- Black Adam…$500,000
- I Heard the Bells…$310,000
- Empire of Light…$235,000
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