Box Office Recap: January 6-8, 2023
Avatar: The Way of Water surpasses a half billion domestically, while the killer doll sci-fi horror film M3GAN makes a killing at the box office.
While Avatar: The Way of Water, unsurprisingly, took the weekend box office crown once again, it did finally receive some healthy competition from Blumhouse/Atomic Monster’s M3GAN, which shattered pre-opening expectations with a near $50 million worldwide debut and earned the highest domestic opening for a horror film since 2018. Out of the total $102.7 earned over the weekend by the top 10 films, just Avatar and M3GAN alone accounted for 73.2% of the box office, with only one other film (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) managing to gross over $5 million. Though the overall box office struggles are still evident, the first major release of the new year opening this strong is hopefully a sign of better things to come for 2023 at the box office.
Even with it dropping -33.2% from the previous weekend, Avatar: The Way of Water still won the top of the box office for the fourth straight weekend, finishing with $45.0 million domestically, and pushing its total domestic run past the half billion mark with $516.8 million. Internationally, the film has earned over a billion with $1.2 billion, pushing its total worldwide gross past last year’s top box office earner Top Gun: Maverick ($1.49 billion) with $1.7 billion. The Way of Water’s next milestone target will be the $2 billion mark. There, it will enter top five all-time worldwide box office territory, with fifth place currently being occupied by Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War ($2.05 billion).
Despite landing in the runner-up spot, Universal’s M3GAN still enjoyed a strong debut at the box office, performing well above industry expections with $30.2 million domestically. This makes the Jason Blum/James Wan-produced sci-fi horror film the highest grossing opening for a horror film since before the pandemic with the Wan-produced Conjuring spinoff The Nun. Internationally, the killer doll flick added another $14.8 million, which brings its worldwide debut to $45.0 million. In addition to its financial success, M3GAN has also received strong critical praise with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating, as well as a solid “B” CinemaScore from opening weekend moviegoers, which should bode well for its legs. One thing is for certain, and that is given that the film has already earned almost quadruple its small $12 million production budget, M3GAN is most definitely dancing its way to the bank.
Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last took third place, finishing with $13.1 million domestically, which brings its total domestic run to $87.7 million. The animated adventure film continues to hold well over its third weekend release, dropping only -22.0% from its prior frame. The film brought in another $25.9 million from overseas markets, bringing its worldwide total to $197.4 million against a $90 million production budget.
In fourth place, Columbia Pictures’s A Man Called Otto expanded from four theaters last weekend to 637 theaters, and took in $4.2 million domestically. Internationally, the film, which stars Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, brought in an additional $8.4 million to bring its worldwide total to $12.7 million against a $50 million production budget. While there is quite a distance still between its earnings and cost, the comedy-drama might receive some help narrowing that gap when it receives its full nationwide expansion this upcoming weekend.
Rounding out the top five, Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever finished with $3.4 million domestically over its ninth weekend in release, bringing its total domestic run to $445.4 million. Overall, the MCU superhero movie has, so far, made $827.2 million worldwide.
Opening this weekend, Warner Bros. Pictures will release their comedy House Party, a reboot of the 1990 film of the same name; Lionsgate debuts their action thriller Plane starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter; and Samuel Goldwyn Films will open their horror fantasy film The Devil Conspiracy.
* Total worldwide gross listed in parenthesis.
1) Avatar: The Way of Water – $45.0 million, Week 4 ($1.7 billion)
2) M3GAN – $30.2 million, Week 1 ($45.0 million)
3) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – $13.1 million, Week 3 ($197.4 million)
4) A Man Called Otto – $4.2 million, Week 2 ($12.7 million)
5) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – $3.4 million, Week 9 ($827.2 million)
6) Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody – $2.4 million, Week 3 ($41.5 million)
7) The Whale – $1.5 million, Week 5 ($8.6 million)
8) Babylon – $1.4 million, Week 3 ($13.5 million)
9) Violent Night – $741.0k, Week 6 ($74.8 million)
10) The Menu – $713.0k, Week 8 ($74.7 million)
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