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‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ three-peats at #1 with $86 million New Year’s weekend haul

By George Costantino Jan 3, 2023 | 5:00 AM


Disney

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water continued its domination at the North American box office, grabbing an estimated $86 million over the four-day weekend and $66.8 million between Friday and Sunday. That brings the Avatar sequel’s domestic gross to $444.4 million and around $1.4 billion worldwide.

The Way of Water now stands as the 14th-highest global release in history, just ahead of Marvel’s Black Panther, and it’s poised to become the highest-grossing movie released in 2022, which is currently Top Gun: Maverick with $1.488 billion.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish grabbed second place with an estimated $22.5 million over the long weekend and $16.3 million for the traditional weekend. The CGI-animated adventure set in the Shrek universe has collected $66.9 million at the North American box office and $135 million globally.

Third place belonged to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which reentered the top five with an estimated $6.5 million over the four-day weekend and $4.8 million from Friday through Saturday. Worldwide, Disney-Marvel’s Black Panther sequel has earned $820 million.

The Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody took fourth place with an estimated $4.8 million between Friday and Monday, raising its North American total to a disappointing $15.4 million.

Damien Chazelle‘s showbiz epic Babylon rounded out the top five, delivering and estimated $3.3 million over the New Year’s holiday weekend for a dismal $10.7 million total. The Brad Pitt-led film earned $2.7 million for the three-day.

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