Avatar on top but M3GAN scares up strong sales in North America

NOT surprisingly, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water clung to first place on North American movie screens this weekend, pulling in an estimated US$45 million, but an unexpectedly popular horror movie placed a strong second.

The Avatar sequel has now led the box office for four weeks, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday (Jan 8). The 20th Century sci-fi film has amassed domestic earnings of US$516.8 million and US$1.19 billion internationally, making it the seventh biggest movie in history.

But scary doll thriller M3GAN from Universal and Blumhouse – the title stands for Model 3 Generative Android – was also impressive, taking in a strong US$30.2 million in its first weekend, far above analysts’ expectations.

M3GAN tells the story of a creepily humanoid robot designed – but evidently not that well – to be the perfect companion for a young orphan girl (Violet McGraw).

“Horror movies are showing no slowdown at the box office,” said David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “Young moviegoers want to see them with their friends, on the big screen, for the maximum thrill.”

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Universal’s spin-off of the Shrek franchise, placed third. The family-oriented film took in US$13.1 million for the Friday-through-Monday period, bringing its gross in North America to US$87.7 million.

A new heart-warmer from Sony, A Man Called Otto, took in US$4.2 million in its second week out to place fourth.

An adaptation of the novel A Man Called Ove by Swedish author Fredrik Backman, Otto stars Tom Hanks as a curmudgeonly retiree whose rough edges are gradually softened by encounters with relentlessly upbeat neighbours.

And in fifth was Disney’s superhero sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, at US$3.4 million. That brings its domestic total to US$445.4 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

Whitney Houston: I wanna Dance With Somebody (US$2.4 million)

The Whale (US$1.5 million)

Babylon (US$1.4 million)

Violent Night (US$740,000)

The Menu (US$713,000)

AFP