A nasty weather system known as Storm Elliott is ruining the holiday moviegoing season in North America outside of Avatar: The Way of Water.
Avatar 2 from 20th Century and Disney will easily win the four-day holiday weekend in North America with an estimated gross of $82 million from Friday through Monday (4,202 theaters; rivals have it higher). The big-budget tentpole brought in $253.7 million domestically and $855.4 million internationally as of Sunday. After two weeks of disbursement, the global total will be close to or over $900 million by Monday night. The Way of Water brought in a huge $168.6 million abroad over the course of the three days surrounding Christmas, bringing its foreign total up to Sunday to $601.7 million.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, from DreamWorks Animation and Universal, will easily take second place with a projected four-day holiday gross of $17.8 million and a six-day opening of $24.7 million from 4,099 theaters. The movie debuted midweek and received an A CinemaScore.
The family movie had been budgeted for a $30 million to $35 million opening. Its performance highlights persistent worries about the family market’s resilience as the industry makes a comeback from the pandemic. The Last Wish faces limited competition in the upcoming weeks, and Universal is still confident that it will have a lengthy run in theaters.The Last Wish has taken in a total of $32.5 million abroad, with a current estimated global cume of $57.2 million as of Monday.
