World box office January 1-3
| Rank | Film (distributor) | 3-day (world) | Cume (world) | 3-day (int’l) | Cume (int’l) | Territories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Avatar: The Way Of Water (Disney) | $250.1m | $1.37bn | $186.7m | $956.9m | 53 |
| 2. | Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Universal) | $38.7m | $129.5m | $22.4m | $68.8m | 72 |
| 3. | Someday Or One Day (various) | $16.1m | $30.5m | $16.1m | $30.5m | 2 |
| 4. | Better Man (various) | $14.1m | $14.1m | $14.1m | $14.1m | 1 |
| 5. | Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Sony) | $12.5m | $27.9m | $8.3m | $13.1m | 45 |
| 6. | Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney) | $7.3m | $818.4m | $2.6m | $380.5m | 51 |
| 7. | Hero (various) | $4.7m | $11m | $4.7m | $11m | 1 |
| 8. | Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (Sony) | $3.5m | $95.5m | $3.5m | $49m | 51 |
| 9. | M3GAN (Sony) | $3.3m | $3.3m | $3.3m | $3.3m | 3 |
| 10. | Violent Night (Universal) | $2.8m | $72.8m | $0.7m | $25.3m |
Credit: Comscore, click top right to expand. All figures are estimates.
‘Avatar 2’ box office rises in third weekend
Disney’s Avatar: The Way Of Water continued to defy gravity over the new year holiday weekend, adding an estimated $250.1m for its third weekend of play, and taking the total to $1.38bn.
Disney had estimated $224.6m for the second weekend which covered the Christmas holiday, but the actual number turned out to be $240.6m. Either way, the estimated box office for the third weekend is higher, and Disney estimates on The Way Of Water have tended to prove cautious.
Most territories saw a box office increase from the second to the third weekend – although this would be expected in markets such as UK/Ireland, since the second weekend included Christmas Day, and virtually all cinemas are closed there on that day.
Top Gun: Maverick remains the top film released in 2022, with $1.49bn. The Way Of Water only needs to add another $110m to overtake the Tom Cruise blockbuster, which ranks 11th in the all-time global box office listing.
Over its first three weeks, The Way Of Water has proved a very consistent performer, benefiting from the holiday period, and with each day of play effectively performing like a weekend day for the film. All eyes will now be on how the Pandora adventure performs when families return to work and school.
The original Avatar continued to perform powerfully in January and February 2010. For example, in North America, Avatar had reached $352m by the end of its third weekend (which was the new year holiday weekend for 2010), and went on to gross $750m by the end of the summer. The global total for the initial release of Avatar is $2.74bn, rising to $2.92bn including various rereleases.
While The Way Of Water has shown extraordinarily strong legs for a blockbuster, few are expecting its sustained success to quite match the first Avatar.
The Way Of Water has achieved its $1.38bn as follows: $421.6m in North America and $956.9m for international, including $152.8m for China. Although the China number will have been depressed by the current Covid surge in the territory, the box office there is still a nice bonus considering so many major 2022 US studio titles missed out on a China release. Top Gun: Maverick did not release in China, and nor did 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which remains the top film of the pandemic era with $1.92bn globally.
After North America and China, top territories so far for The Way Of Water are France ($95.1m), South Korea ($74.9m), Germany ($67.2m) and UK/Ireland ($54.2m). Next come India ($49.3m), Mexico ($37.3m), Australia ($34.3m), Italy ($30.5m) and Spain ($28.3m).
The film is the highest-grossing title of the pandemic era in France, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria and Lithuania.
On Imax, The Way Of Water has reached $152.2m globally – the fourth-highest total ever on the format, behind Avatar, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Endgame.
‘Puss In Boots 2’ boosted by fresh markets
The continued expansion for Universal’s release of DreamWorks Animation’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is paying dividends at the box office. The sequel saw its highest-grossing session to date at the weekend, with an estimated $22.5m for international, $16.3m in North America, combining for $38.8m worldwide. Total after four weekends of play is $129.6m.
The Last Wish added 18 new markets at the weekend, including Australia, which delivered a $3.4m opening. Central America opened with an estimated $1.7m. The film is now playing in 72 territories.
International holdover markets performed well, rising 15% overall. Cumulatively, top foreign territory is France, with $12.7m. Next are Mexico ($6.6m), Germany ($5.1m), Italy ($4.4m) and Spain ($3.2m).
The Last Wish is chasing a $555.0m total achieved by the original Puss In Boots in 2011: $149.3m in North America and $405.7m for international. That number included $50.6m for Russia, which will be a piece missing from the pie for the sequel.
Two key markets release this coming week: South Korea (where the original film grossed $15.1m) and Brazil (where it grossed $24.5m). UK/Ireland (where Puss In Boots delivered $24.0m) follows on February 3, with Japan ($13.8m for the first film) in March.
Also for Universal, horror film M3gan launched in three early international markets – France, Mexico and Belgium – grossing an estimated $3.3m. Mexico began with an estimated $1.7m – on par with The Black Phone, which proved a phenomenon in the horror-loving territory. Spain and Italy join the M3gan party this week, with UK/Ireland, Australia and Germany all following the week after.
‘Whitney Houston’ adds $12.6m as rollout builds
Expanding from 32 to 45 markets for its second week of release, Sony’s Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody saw its box office increase at the weekend. North America delivered an estimated $4.3m (down a slim 11% from the opening), with international bringing $8.3m (rising 29% in holdover markets).
Totals are $14.9m in North America, $13.1m for international, and $28.0m worldwide.
New markets for the musical biopic included UK/Ireland (an estimated $4.1m since December 26) and Australia ($1.5m).
Local hits boost China box office
Films from Taiwan and China – both currently performing strongly in China – rank third and fourth in Comscore’s global box office chart for the weekend period.
From Taiwan, Someday Or One Day is a big-screen spinoff of the 2019 hit TV series of the same name, which was backed by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific and which streamed in China. The TV storyline saw the female protagonist, grieving the death of her boyfriend, transported back in time to 1998 and waking up in the body of a high school girl. Someday Or One Day grossed $16.1m in China and Taiwan at the weekend, and has reached $30.6m in total. The film stars young Taiwanese actors Alice Ko, Greg Hsu and Patrick Shih, who all starred in the TV series, and is helmed by the original series’ director Huang Tien-Jen.
From China, Better Man, directed by Qi Zhang (Who Sleeps My Bro, 2016), is a comedy about a macho man who falls into a female-dominated world. The film opened with $14.2m in China.
Chins has suffered a disappointing 2022 at the box office, with an annual total of just under $4.30bn – down 36% on 2021’s total of $6.75bn according to Artisan Gateway. Many major US titles were not released in China in 2022.
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