James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water led ticket sales in movie theaters for the sixth straight weekend, making it the first film to have such a sustained reign since 2009's Avatar. The Walt Disney Co.'s The Way of Water added $19.7 million in US and Canadian theaters over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Its global total has now surpassed $2 billion, putting it sixth all-time, just ahead of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Domestically, The Way of Water is up to $598 million, the AP reports. Continued robust international sales ($56.3 million for the weekend) has helped push the Avatar sequel to $2.02 billion worldwide.
The film's box office domination has been aided by a dearth of formidable challengers. The only new wide release from a major studio on the weekend was the thriller Missing, from Sony's Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films. A low-budget sequel to 2018's Searching, starring Storm Reid as a teenager seeking her missing mother, Missing plays out across computer screens. The film, budgeted at $7 million, debuted with $9.3 million. January is typically a slow period in theaters, but a handful of strong-performing holdovers have helped prop up sales.
Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
- Avatar: The Way of Water, $19.7 million.
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, $11.5 million.
- M3gan, $9.8 million.
- Missing, $9.3 million.
- A Man Called Otto, $9 million.
- Plane, $5.3 million.
- House Party, $1.8 million.
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime The Movie, $1.5 million.
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, $1.4 million.
- The Whale, $1.3 million.
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