James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water stood atop the domestic box office charts in its first week.
The blockbuster sequel took in $134 million for its opening weekend, which is well above the original’s $77 million. It’s also the first of Cameron’s movies to clear the $100 million mark in a single weekend.
Worldwide, The Way of Water was even more impressive with a $435 million opening weekend. With the success, Disney is nearing the $4 billion mark for the year, per Deadline. Imax notes that this marked the second-highest global weekend over for their screens as it earned $48.8 million from 1,543 screens.
Cameron’s films tend to have long tails, so it will be interesting to see how it fares going forward. It has received stellar audience exits with an A CinemaScore, so fans are walking away satisfied. The original film managed to keep the No. 1 spot for an amazing seven weeks.
Box Office Results: Domestic Top 10
1) Avatar: The Way of Water 4,202 theaters, Fri $53M, Sat $44.5M, Sun $36.5M, Total $134M/Wk 1
2) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 3,380 theaters, Fri $1.44M, Sat $2.25M, Sun $1.7M 3-day $5.4M (-52%), Total $418.99M/Wk 6
3) Violent Night 3,525 theaters, Fri $1.4M, Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.47M, 3-day $5M (-43%), Total $34.96M/Wk 3
4) Strange World 2,870 theaters, Fri $521K, Sat $967K, Sun $712K, 3-day $2.2M (-42%), Total $33.8M/Wk 4
5) The Menu 1,875 theaters, Fri $500k, Sat $660k, Sun $540k, 3-day $1.7M (-39%), Total $32.1m/Wk 5
6) Devotion 2,211 theaters, Fri $250K, Sat $333K, Sun $242K, 3-day $825K (-59%), Total $18.7M/Wk 4
7) The Fabelmans 955 theaters, Fri $220K, Sat $320K, Sun $210K, 3-day $750K (-36%), Total $8.66M/Wk 6
8) Black Adam 1,304 theaters, Fri $125K, Sat $205K, Sun $170K, 3-day $500K (-62%), Total $167.7M/Wk 9
9.) I Heard the Bells 426 theaters, Fri $93K, Sat $123K, Sun $93K, 3-day $309K (-59%), Total $4.99M/Wk 3
10.) Empire of Light 436 theaters, Fri $71K, Sat $91K, Sun $73K, 3-day $235K (+44%), Total $471.8K/Wk 2