Despite cinemas partly deserted due to the violent winter storm that upset the Christmas weekend in the United States, the blockbuster “Avatar 2” continues to float at the top of the North American box office, according to figures. provisional provided Monday by the specialized firm Exhibitor Relations.
The highly anticipated sequel to the 2009 sci-fi film earned $90 million between Friday and Monday, a public holiday in the United States and Canada, for its second week of release. Including international admissions, James Cameron’s film has grossed a total of more than $881 million since its release, according to figures from box office mojo.
Again set on the planet Pandora, “Avatar: The Way of the Water” tells a story set more than a decade after the events of the first film. U.S. Marine Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington, has transitioned into the body of a Na’vi, the tall, blue-skinned people of Pandora, and works with them to protect their habitat from a dire threat.
In France last week, the film had amassed more than 2.7 million viewers in one week, making it one of the top 20 starts of the century, according to CBO Box office data on Wednesday. It did slightly better than the first in 2009, which exceeded 2.6 million admissions in its first week. It’s the 18th best seven-day start in France since 2001, and the best since “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in December 2021.
“Puss in Boots” in second place
Another sequel, the children’s film “Puss in Boots 2: The Last Quest” slipped to second place on the podium in North America, despite box office sales below expectations with $ 17.5 million over four days for its first indoor weekend. In this children’s film, Puss in Boots, voiced by actor Antonio Banderas, embarks on an epic adventure to restore his nine lives.
The biopic on singer Whitney Houston “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” lands him in third position with only 6.8 million dollars in receipts for its first weekend.
A work of excess, the feature film “Babylon” with Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt barely raised $5.3 million for its start, another performance “disappointing due to external conditions”, underlines David Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research .
Six years after the triumph of “La La Land”, the gifted Damien Chazelle offers with this film a vibrant tribute to the Hollywood of the 1920s, at a time when sound began to appear, condemning the silent world to oblivion.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, the sequel to the afro-futuristic Marvel film which hit the screens in 2018, tumbles to fifth place with $ 5.3 million for its seventh week on screens.
Here’s the rest of the top 10:
6- “Violent Night” ($4.3 million)
7- “The Whale” (1.5 million)
8- “The Menu” (1 million)
9- “The Fabelmans” ($900,000)
10- “Avalonia, the strange journey” (675,000 dollars)
“Avatar 2” largely flies over the North American box office