Box Office Recap: January 20-22, 2023
Avatar and M3GAN celebrate milestones for crossing $2 billion and $100 million worldwide, respectively.
With only $70.6 million earned among the entire top 10 films, this past weekend coasted in cruise control, and that seems to be the expected trend until M. Night Shymalan’s psychological thriller Knock at the Cabin opens on the weekend of February 3. That said, there were some milestones achieved over the weekend for a few of the top earners. Avatar: The Way of Water has now joined its predecessor in the $2 billion club, while the Jason Blum/James Wan-produced killer doll flick M3GAN, despite dropping to third place, crossed $100 million worldwide over the same week its sequel was, very unsurprisingly, announced. Also, the animated sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish received a bump up to second place, as it draws closer to earning $300 million globally.
Claiming the box office crown for the sixth straight weekend, 20th Century Studios’s Avatar: The Way of Water earned $20 million domestically to bring its total domestic haul inches away from reaching $600 million with $598.3 million. Worldwide, the sci-fi actioner has not only surpassed Spider-Man: No Way Home for sixth-place on the all-time worldwide box office chart, it’s also become the sixth film to cross $2 billion, earning $2.02 billion. This makes it the third film from Academy Award winner James Cameron to gross $2 billion or more, behind 1997’s Titanic ($2.19 billion) and 2009’s Avatar ($2.92 billion). Next mark for The Way of Water will be passing Avengers: Infinity War ($2.05 billion), which would place it in the top five all-time worldwide box office earners.
In the runner-up spot, Universal and DreamWorks’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish continues to hold on strong with a fifth weekend performance of $11.5 million domestically, pushing its total domestic run to $126.5 million. Internationally, the film has earned $171.0 million, which, altogether, has its global total now just shy of the $300 million mark with $297.5 million against a reported production budget of $90 million.
Universal’s M3GAN dropped down to third place over its third weekend in release, bringing in $9.8 million domestically for a domestic cume of $73.3 million. With $51.3 million added from overseas markets, the sci-fi horror film’s total worldwide gross stands at $124.6 million against a reported budget of $12 million, making it no surprise to anyone that the studio has already announced a sequel, tentatively titled M3GAN 2.0.
In fourth place, Sony’s Missing debuted in 3,025 theaters and brought in $9.3 million domestically, earning a per-screen average of $3,074. For comparison, its predecessor Searching earned $26.0 million domestically but also nearly doubled its earnings from the international markets for a global total of $75.5 million, all against a miniscule budget of roughly under $1 million. Of course, it remains to be seen whether Missing can match Searching’s financial success. While Missing’s production budget is higher at a reported $7 million, it did receive solid praise from critics and, though, there’s no posted CinemaScore for the film, its verified audience score on Rotten Tomatoes also ranks high at 91%, which should help strengthen its legs. Additionally, it should be noted that the screenlife mystery thriller has yet to report any international earnings, which was a major part of the previous film’s success.
Rounding out the top five, Columbia Pictures’s A Man Called Otto brought in $9.0 million domestically over its fourth weekend in release, pushing its domestic total to $35.3 million. This marks a respectable drop of only -29.8% from its prior weekend frame, earning a per-theater average of $2,367 from 3,802 theaters. Altogether, the film earned $55.3 million worldwide, which has it surpassing its reported $50 million production budget. However, factoring in both print and advertising costs, as well as the cut that goes to the movie theaters, it still has a bit more to earn back before it starts to see any profit.
Opening this weekend, Hidden Empire Releasing will give a limited release to their horror film Fear.
* Total worldwide gross listed in parenthesis.
1) Avatar: The Way of Water – $20.0 million, Week 6 ($2.0 billion)
2) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – $11.5 million, Week 5 ($297.5 million)
3) M3GAN – $9.8 million, Week 3 ($124.6 million)
4) Missing – $9.3 million, Week 1 ($9.3 million)
5) A Man Called Otto – $9.0 million, Week 4 ($55.3 million)
6) Plane – $5.3 million, Week 2 ($20.6 million)
7) House Party – $1.8 million, Week 2 ($7.3 million)
8) That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond – $1.5 million, Week 1 ($11.0 million)
9) The Whale – $1.28 million, Week 7 ($13.2 million)
10) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – $1.26 million, Week 11 ($839.0 million)
About Post Author
