It’s the sixth weekend of release for “Avatar: The Way of Water” and James Cameron’s science-fiction sequel is still floating atop the box office, ahead of new release “Missing.”
Playing in 3,790 theaters, “The Way of Water” added $4.6 million to its domestic haul on Friday, pushing its total to $582 million. That marks roughly a 35% drop from its previous outing, marking another strong hold for the holiday release as it continues to keep momentum up through January.
The “Avatar” sequel has made more than its predecessor had at this point in its run, though it continues to put up more heavy drops. Domestic total for the sequel should be on the edge of $600 million by Monday, putting the film just a stone’s throw away from taking down “Incredibles 2” ($608 million) as the 12th-highest grossing film of all time in North America.
On a global scale, “The Way of Water” officially surpassed “Spider-Man: No Way Home” as the sixth-highest grossing film of all time on Wednesday, having generated $1.928 billion globally. The film’s next milestone will be crossing the $2 billion mark, which has only been achieved by five films, ever: “Avatar” ($2.9 billion), “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.79 billion), “Titanic” ($2.2 billion), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($2.069 billion) and “Avengers: Infinity War” ($2.04 billion).
Stage 6 Films and Screen Gems’ “Missing” is the only new wide release this weekend. The thriller, distributed by Sony Pictures, picked up $3.4 million on its opening day and is aiming for a third or fourth place finish on domestic charts. It’s in a solid place considering its thrifty $7 million production budget.
A sequel to 2018’s “Searching,” the film follows a teenager (Storm Reid) looking for her mother (Nia Long); the film is told through the characters’ screen devices, poring over internet logs and text conversations. Nick Johnson and Will Merrick helm the picture for their directorial debut.
More to come…
