1. Avatar: Fire and Ash– $64M/$217.6M
Always trust in James Cameron. While some looked at the slightly disappinting debut of Avatar: Fire and Ash and wondered if audiences had finally had enough, clearly it was only due to robust competition it faced last week. Because those same audiences came back for another trip to Pandora, with the sequel dropping just 28% and earning another $64M domestically for $217M. Globally, the film has already hit $760M in just two weeks, ensuring another $1B hit that will give Cameron another notch on the all-time box office records.
2. Zootopia 2– $20M/$321.3M
3. Marty Supreme– $15.5M/$28.2M
After crushing the site averages last week, A24’s kinetic ping-pong thriller Marty Supreme surged in wide release, hitting $15.5M in 2,668 theaters. Timothee Chalamet is becoming a dominant figure in this awards season frame, as he was leading a boom for A Complete Unknown at this time last year.
4. The Housemaid– $15.4M/$46.4M
5. Anaconda (review)– $14.5M/$23.6M
Coming in snakebit with just $14.5M over three days and $23.6M over the four-day holiday is Sony’s comedic reboot of Anaconda. Not even the combo of Jack Black, Paul Rudd, and a deadly snake could cover for the poor reviews, with critics holding it at 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 77% from audiences. Depending on how you slice these things, the global $43.5M haul is the best for a straight-up comedy this year. I think that’s being generous, because I would call Black’s other movie this year, A Minecraft Movie, a comedy as well.
6. David– $12.6M/$49.7M
7. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants– $11.2M/$33.1M
8. Song Sung Blue (review)- $7.6M
One of my favorite movies of the year, Craig Brewer’s Neil Diamond tribute band film Song Sung Blue, opened with just $7.6M. I was hoping the film’s crowdpleasing tone and the pairing of Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson would push it further. Perhaps they pushed it as far as a film of this nature can go, since it’s not really about Neil Diamond so it won’t have the appeal of a traditional biopic.
9. Wicked: For Good– $5.2M/$331.6M
10. Five Nights at Freddy’s 2– $4.4M/$118.9M
Also…Park Chan-Wook’s latest dark comedy No Other Choice (review), starring Lee Byung-hun as a fired worker willing to kill his way back into employment, opened with $625K over the holidays in just 13 locations. I’m curious to see how this fares over the long haul. If marketed correctly, it could hit the same sweet spot as Parasite as they follow similar themes.
Another film with Oscar buzz, The Testament of Ann Lee (review), starring Amanda Seyfried as the leader of the Shakers religious sect, opened with $111K for Searchlight Pictures in 4 sites. This one is by director Mona Fastvold and co-writer Brady Corbet, the duo behind last year’s The Brutalist, so don’t sleep on it as awards season heats up. [BoxOfficeMojo]
