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Posted January 8, 2023 by Mike Tyrkus in News
 
 

Box-Office Weekend: “Avatar” Still On Top


Despite two new additions to the top ten films of the box-office weekend, Avatar: The Way of Water held onto the top spot for a fourth consecutive weekend as it bested the second-place film by $14.8 million, bringing its overall total to $516.8 million.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" posterAdding $45.0 million over the weekend, Avatar: The Way of Water managed to pass Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace (1999), Frozen II (2019), Finding Dory (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), and Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019), to claim the sixteenth highest domestic gross of all time. Debuting in second-place with $30.2 million over the weekend was the horror film M3GAN. This pushed last weekend’s second-place film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, to third place with $13.1 million. The film still boasts a three-week total of $87.7 million. Meanwhile, the Tom Hanks film, A Man Called Otto debuted in the top ten in its second week of release in fourth place with $4.2 million, bringing its overall total to $4.3 million. This activity pushed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to fifth place with $3.4 million after finishing in third last weekend. This film now claims a nine-week total of $445.4 million.

The biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody dropped from fourth to sixth-place over the weekend adding $2.4 million to lift its three-week total to $19.7 million. Again, holding its ground in the seventh-spot was The Whale with $1.5 million, bringing its five-week total to $8.6 million. Falling three spots to finish in eighth place this weekend was Babylon as it added $1.4 million over the weekend to lift its three-week total to $13.5 million. Dropping three spots to finish in ninth place over the weekend was Violent Night with $741,000. This gives the film a six-week total of $49.4 million. Finally, The Menu was pushed in the final spot in the weekend top ten as it brought in $713,000 in its eighth weekend in release to raise its total to $37.7 million.

Two films departed the top ten this weekend as The Fabelmans dropped from the list after finishing in eighth-place last weekend. The film leaves with a nine-week total of $13.4 million. Last weekend’s tenth-place film, Strange World ended a long seven-week run in the top ten after amassing $37.7 million.

Weekend Box Office (January 6th – January 8th)

  1. Avatar: The Way of Water…$45.0 Million
  2. M3GAN…$30.2 Million
  3. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish…$13.1 Million
  4. A Man Called Otto…$4.2 Million
  5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever…$3.4 Million
  6. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody…$2.4 Million
  7. The Whale…$1.5 Million
  8. Babylon…$1.4 Million
  9. Violent Night…$741,000
  10. The Menu…$713,000
Mike Tyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.