Movie theater operators are Navi and the new queen of artificial intelligence.
January is a low season at the box office. Still James Cameron’s blockbuster sequel “Avatar: Path of Water” and Universal’s viral horror film ”M3GAN‘ continues to kill in North America, winning three new national releases over Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday weekend.
“Avatar 2” held the top spot for the fifth straight week, grossing $31.1 million from 4,045 theaters in the traditional three-day period, an estimated $38.5 million through Monday. How much of the box office record of “Mizu no Michi” remains? To put those numbers into perspective, the sci-fi epic is earning more in its fifth weekend of release than many pandemic-era movies managed to earn in their first weekend. And it won’t face high-profile box office competition until Disney and Marvel’s Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantomania debut at the end of February.
So far, the big-budget Disney and 20th-century moguls have generated $570 million in North America and a staggering $1.89 billion worldwide. “The Way of Water” already ranks as the 7th largest global release of all time. 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is No. 6 with $1.91 billion.
Meanwhile, “M3GAN” finished second with 17.9 million viewers in 3,605 theaters over the weekend, earning an estimated $21.2 million by Monday, down 40% from its debut. These are the great results of a horror movie that cost him $12 million to make and has raised him $59 million to date.
Regarding new products, Sony’s “a man named OttoTearjerker, which stars Tom Hanks as a disgruntled widower, had a successful wide release, fetching $12.6 million from 3,802 theaters in a regular weekend, and an estimated $15 million by Monday. Those ticket sales were enough to earn him fourth place behind Universal’s animated adventure Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, which did particularly well over the holiday weekend. Family films made his $13.4 million over the weekend, and by Monday he added $17.3 million, bringing his domestic tally to $110 million.
Two weeks after its limited release, “A Man Called Otto” grossed $21.2 million. It’s one of his rare pandemic-era movies aimed at an adult audience, effectively maintaining momentum over traditional platform rollouts that allowed ‘Otto’ to generate positive buzz. doing.
“It’s a really good opening for a character-driven comedy-drama that’s grabbing the attention of older moviegoers,” said David A. Gross, who runs film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. increase.
Gerard Butler’s action thriller “Plain” and Warner Bros.’s remake of “House Party” also released this weekend and reached No. 5 and No. 6 respectively on the domestic box office charts.
“Airplane” took off from 3,023 theaters over the weekend with $10 million, earning an estimated $11.6 million by Monday. It got off to a decent but unremarkable start for a movie with a budget of around $40 million. (Lionsgate got the domestic rights for less money.) The action actor, who stars Butler as a pilot that saves passengers from lightning strikes, only to discover that things are about to get worse, leaving audiences with no choice. was awarded a “B+” Cinema Score by The first ticket buyers were mostly older men, with 77% of him and 55% of his 25+ audience being men.
Meanwhile, “House Party” blew up with $3.8 million over the weekend and an estimated $4.5 million by Monday. A reboot of the 1990 comedy classic was commissioned for HBO Max, but the studio chose to release it theatrically. With seemingly little promotion and dismal reviews (holding a 25% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), “House Party” struggled to attract viewers to the big screen. Warner Bros. at least expects the film to garner greater attention by the time it hits streaming. According to Franchise Entertainment Research’s Gross, the theatrical release is “designed to raise the profile of the film before it heads to HBO. [Max]”
There were some bright spots in the Art House category, such as A24’s “The Whale” and IFC’s “Stomach Ulcer.”skin marine“
After a few weeks of limited release, ‘The Whale’ Exceeded $10 million Domestic ticket sales are a notable achievement for the indie in today’s fragmented movie-going environment. In the pre-COVID era, these ticket sales haven’t been particularly impressive.
“Skinnalink” debuted at number 11, pulling in $746,000 from 692 theaters, an estimated $798,000 by Monday (averaging about $1,000 per location). That’s not bad, considering that the gruesome low-budget horror film wasn’t allowed to play too many daily screenings at major chain stores over the weekend. Destined to give viewers night terrors, “Skinnalink” is mostly a viral success. The film has a production budget of just $15,000.
Arianna Bocco, President of IFC Films and IFC Midnight, said: “[Director] Kyle [Edward Ball] made a movie for a new generation, once again proving that horror movies and their communities can be done on the smallest budget. Skinnerink is frighteningly eerily familiar, and it takes an experience to share that feeling. “
