Avatar: The Way of Water has continued its impressive box-office performance over the weekend, taking its global tally through Sunday to $1.894B, in the process closing in on No. 6 biggest movie of all time Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Another estimated $38.5 million at the U.S. box-office took the blockbuster sequel’s domestic total to $570.3 million, which added to it’s whopping haul of $1.33 billion from international markets. Avatar: The Way of Water’s fifth-weekend U.S. frame is the third best of all time, coming in behind American Sniper ($64.6M) and the first Avatar ($42.7M). It also helps that having been granted an extended play in China, The Way of Water has now managed to surpass the original’s 2009 Middle Kingdom take of $204M to post $211.8M.
Elsewhere M3GAN continued to have plenty to dance about, with the Blumhouse horror-hit delivering a solid $21.2 million sophomore frame. The $12 million budgeted film took its U.S. earnings to $59.7 million domestic and $93.9 million worldwide and is expected to fly past the $100 million mark in the next couple of days.
Despite now being available on VOD, Universal’s animated sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish continued to perform well, sitting in third place with $17.3 million, the Shrek spin-off has now lapped up $110 million in North America and $251 million worldwide, and with a few major territories to go, it should have plenty of lives left.
It was also good news for that most endangered of box-office species, the mid-range adult offering, with Sony Pictures’ Tom Hanks vehicle A Man Called Otto (read our ★★★ review here) expanding into over 3,800 theatres and being rewarded with $14.9 million for the weekend and $21.2 million total.
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Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
Avatar: The Way of Water is directed by James Cameron and sees Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, Dileep Rao, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, and Sigourney Weaver all reprising their roles from the 2009 blockbuster, while new additions to the cast include Kate Winslet, Oona Chaplin, Cliff Curtis, Britain Dalton, Filip Geljo, Jamie Flatters, Bailey Bass, Trinity Bliss, Jack Champion, Duane Evans Jr., Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Keston John, and CJ Jones.