'The Way of Water' tops the North American chart for the seventh consecutive weekend, grossing $620 million to become the 10th highest-grossing movie of all-time in the U.S./Canada.
- January 30, 2023
AceShowbiz - "Avatar: The Way of Water" flies past its predecessors. The epic sci-fi movie continues stamping its name in the industry history after leading the domestic box office in its seventh straight week with an estimated $15.7 million.
The James Cameron-directed pic has now grossed $623.3 million, becoming the 10th highest-grossing movie ever in the U.S./Canada. This brings the movie's worldwide cume to $2.117 billion, making "Avatar 2" the fourth highest-grossing movie in history globally.
It now ranks behind only the first "Avatar" movie ($2.9 billion), "Avengers: Endgame" ($2.799 billion) and Cameron's "Titanic" ($2.19 billion). Cameron sets his own personal record as he directed three of the top four movies.
"James Cameron just keeps ticking off all the records and milestones," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. "And it's still got a wide-open marketplace."
Back to the domestic box office, "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" is still the runner-up with an estimated $10.6 million, only dropping 10% from last week. Tom Hanks' "A Man Called Otto" climbs two spots to No. 3 with approximately $6.8 million.
Relinquishing the third place, "M3GAN" now ranks fourth with an estimated $6.4 million. At No. 5 is a newcomer, Yash Raj's Indian spy pic "Pathaan" from Siddharth Anand, that opens to approximately $5.9 million.
"A top five appearance is really impressive," Dergarabedian weighs in on this week's rankings, noting that the marketplace over the past several years has presented opportunities for Indian films to break into the domestic top 10.
Another new wide-release, "Infinity Pool", failed to break into the top five despite having Alexander Skarsgard and Mia Goth in its cast. The R-rated horror film from director Brandon Cronenberg holds an approval rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, but viewers gave it an average grade of C–, which translates to its muted opening with approximately $2.7 million.
Top 10 of North America Box Office (Jan. 27-29, 2023):
- "Avatar: The Way of Water" - $15.7 million
- "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" - $10.6 million
- "A Man Called Otto" - $6.8 million
- "M3GAN" - $6.4 million
- "Pathaan" - $5.9 million
- "Missing" - $5.7 million
- "Plane" - $3.8 million
- "Infinity Pool" - $2.7 million
- "Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist" - $2.4 million
- "The Wandering Earth II" - $1.4 million
