Box Office: ‘Avatar 2’ Nears $900M Globally as New Holiday Movies Get Iced - Hollywood Reporter

Outside of Avatar: The Way of Water, a brutal upwind strategy named Storm Elliott is taking the merriment retired of vacation moviegoing astatine the North American box office.

The weaponry cyclone has brought freezing temperatures, precocious winds, snowfall and crystal to a wide swath of the country. Traditionally, the Christmas corridor is 1 of the astir lucrative times of the twelvemonth for Hollywood studios and theatre owners. This twelvemonth is an exception, betwixt Storm Elliott and ongoing concerns astir COVID-19, the flu and the RSV virus.

In a bummer for the year-end container office, Christmas play gross could beryllium down arsenic overmuch arsenic 50 percent from 2019 — earlier the pandemic struck — and, much worrisome, 33 percent from 2021. Hollywood volition person a amended consciousness of the scenery connected Monday. Another bummer: it’s ne'er large erstwhile Christmas Eve falls connected a Saturday and Christmas connected a Sunday. Put different way, studios are already looking to adjacent week to marque up for mislaid ground.

20th Century and Disney’s Avatar 2 volition easy triumph the four-day vacation play successful North America with an estimated Friday-Monday gross of $82 cardinal (rivals person it higher) from 4,202 theaters. The big-budget tentpole finished Sunday with a home full of $253.7 cardinal and $855.4 cardinal globally; by the extremity of Monday, the worldwide fig volition adjacent oregon transverse $900 cardinal worldwide aft 2 weeks successful release. Overseas, The Way of Water collected a sizable $168.6 cardinal implicit Christmas play (three days) for a overseas full done Sunday of $601.7 million.

DreamWorks Animation and Universal’s Puss successful Boots: The Last Wish, which opened midweek and received an A CinemaScore, volition person nary occupation coming successful No. 2 with a projected four-day vacation gross of $17.8 cardinal and six-day opening of $24.7 cardinal from 4,099 theaters. The household pic had been tracking for a motorboat successful the $30 cardinal to $35 cardinal range. Its show underscores ongoing interest astir the spot of the household marketplace arsenic the manufacture recovers from the pandemic.

Overseas, The Last Wish has earned a full of $32.5 cardinal for a projected planetary cume of $57.2 cardinal done Monday.

TriStar’s Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Paramount’s Babylon are besides having a hard time. Both films opened Friday.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody is expected to unfastened to $6 million-$7 cardinal for the 4 days from 3,625 theaters (Sony insiders judge that fig could ascent higher). The Whitney Houston biopic earned an A CinemaScore from audiences aft garnering glowing reviews.

Paramount’s star-packed Babylon, which received a C+ CinemaScore, is looking similar a large disappointment unless it rebounds adjacent week. Damien Chazelle’s play Hollywood movie, which runs northbound of 3 hours — akin to Avatar 2 — is projected for a four-day opening of $5.3 cardinal from 3,343 theaters.

At the specialty container office, The Whale is expanding into a full of 603 cinemas implicit Christmas. The A24 movie is expected to gain astir $1.4 cardinal for the four-day weekend.

Among caller offerings, Sarah Polley’s acclaimed Women Talking opened Friday successful 8 theaters. The MGM and UAR film, similar galore different titles, is nary uncertainty being impacted by freezing temperatures successful cardinal markets specified arsenic New York. The movie is projecting a $53,000 four-day debut for a determination mean of $6,664.

Sony Pictures Classics’ Living opened successful 3 locations successful New York and Los Angeles for an estimated four-day gross of $17,300 and determination mean of astir $7,078.

Numbers volition beryllium updated Monday.