Avatar: The Way of Water is topping a quiet Christmas box office weekend. Director James Cameron’s epic science-fiction sequel picked up $19.5 million on its second Friday, for a projected three-day weekend of around $55 million, and $82 million across the four-day extended weekend. This pushes the film’s running domestic tally to $217 million, with over $250 million projected by Sunday.
The Way of Water comes 13 years after the first Avatar broke box office records and ultimately finished as the highest-grossing film of all time. That film’s current global haul stands at an astounding $2.9 billion. Produced on a reported budget of around $400 million, the sequel isn't expected to match the first film's performance, but will have to finish with at least $2 billion to break even, Cameron has said.
The first Avatar famously opened low, but displayed unprecedented legs over several months. The Way of Water is currently pacing ahead of Avatar, but mainly because it made significantly more in its opening weekend. At the same point, the first film had made $160 million domestically, but crucially, it dropped by just 13% on its second Friday (The Way of Water fell by 63%). With a projected 59% second weekend drop, The Way of Water is faring better than most modern blockbusters, but by the first film’s standards, that’s a steep fall.
Coming in at a distant second place, Universal’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish picked up $3.8 million on Friday, for a projected weekend of $11.2 million, and $17.4 million across four days. The film is expected to make over $32 million internationally, for a global opening of $57 million. Like The Way of Water, the sequel arrives over a decade after the first Puss in Boots — itself a spinoff to the Shrek franchise — which ended its global run with $555 million back in 2011.
Sony’s Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody made $2 million on its first Friday. Directed by Kasi Lemmons, the film is expected to make around $5.5 million over the weekend, and between $8 million and $10 million across four days. The film cost a reported $45 million to make, and received mixed reviews. Paramount’s $100 million period drama Babylon is expected to claim the fourth spot in its debut weekend. Directed by Oscar-winner Damien Chazelle, the divisive epic picked up $1.47 million on its first Friday, for a projected $3.3 million weekend, and a $5 million four-day haul. This could be a concerning result for Paramount, which has had an exemplary 2022 so far, having released the year's biggest film, Top Gun: Maverick. The top five was rounded out by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which picked up $1 million as it entered its seventh week. The hit superhero sequel has made $423 million so far at the domestic box office.
Expect The Way of Water to continue ruling the box office for the next several weeks, at least until fellow Disney release Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania drops in a couple of months. You can watch our interview with Cameron here: