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'Avatar' sequel crosses $2B after six straight weeks at top of box office

Continued robust international sales pushes the “Avatar: The Way of Water” to $2.024 billion worldwide, which was aided in part by a dearth of formidable challengers.

AFP

Filmmakers Jon Landau (L) and James Cameron (R) speak onstage at the handprints and footprints ceremony honouring "Avatar: The Way Of The Water" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.

James Cameron's “Avatar: The Way of Water” has led ticket sales in movie theatres for the sixth straight weekend, making it the first film to have such a sustained reign atop the box office since 2009's “Avatar."

The Walt Disney Co.’s “The Way of Water” added $19.7 million in US and Canadian theatres over the weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Its global total has now surpassed $2 billion, putting it sixth all-time and just ahead of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Domestically, “The Way of Water” is up to $598 million.

A year ago, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” also topped the box office for six weekends, but did it over the course of seven weeks.

You have to go back to Cameron's original “Avatar” to find a movie that stayed No. 1 for such a long span. ("Avatar" ultimately topped out at seven weeks.)

Before that, the only film in the past 25 years to manage the feat was another Cameron film; “Titanic” (1997) went undefeated for 15 weeks.

RED MORE: ''Avatar,' 'Top Gun' and 'Elvis' to compete for top prize at Golden Globes

“Costume design is one of the most important parts of expressing a character.”

Deborah L. Scott takes you behind-the-scenes of the costume design in Avatar: The Way of Water. Experience it in 3D, now playing only in theaters. pic.twitter.com/WM5QhUyTTp
— Avatar (@officialavatar) January 15, 2023

Box-office domination

“The Way of Water” has now reached a target that Cameron himself set for the very expensive sequel. Ahead of its release, Cameron said becoming “the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history” was “your break even."

The box-office domination for “The Way of Water” has been aided, in part, 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 theatres, but a handful of strong-performing holdovers have helped prop up sales.

Though it didn't open hugely in December, Universal Pictures' “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” has had long legs as one of the only family options in theatres over the last month.

In its fifth week, it came in second place with $11.5 million domestically and $17.8 million overseas. The “Puss in Boots" sequel has grossed $297.5 million globally.

In addition, the creepy doll horror hit “M3gan,” also from Universal, has continued to pull in moviegoers. It notched $9.8 million in its third week, bringing its domestic haul to $73.3 million.

SOURCE: AP