By Ben Miller
Yes, Avatar: The Way of Water won the box office battle for the seventh straight week. Yes, it's now one of four highest-grossing films in history (the third James Cameron-directed film to achieve that). Yes, it will end up being one of the biggest domestic hits in history. But, I'm much more interested in the rest of the box office. Following Tuesday's Oscar nods, several of the big contenders received a much needed expansion and a little financial boost...
| Weekend Box Office (actuals) Jan 27th-29th 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 THE WAY OF WATER |
 PATHAAN |
| 1 ★ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER $15.9 (cum. $620.8) 3,600 screens |
1 🔺 PATHAAN $6.8 *NEW* 695 screens |
| 2 ★ PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH $10.4 (cum. $140.7) 3,452 screens |
2 THE WANDERING EARTH II $1.4 (cum. $3.0) 142 screens |
| 3 A MAN CALLED OTTO $6.6 (cum. $45.9) |
3 🔺 ★ WOMEN TALKING $970k (cum. $2.3) 707 screens |
|
4 M3GAN $6.2 (cum. $82.1) 3416 screens |
4 🔺 MAYBE I DO $562k *NEW* 465 screens |
|
5 MISSING $5.6 (cum. $17.5) 3025 screens |
5 🔺★ LIVING $528k (cum. $981k) 644 screens |
|
6 PLANE $3.8 (cum. $25.3) 2852 screens |
6 🔺★ TÁR $175k (cum. $6.1) 537 theaters |
 INFINITY POOL |
 CLOSE |
|
7 🔺 INFINITY POOL $2.5 *NEW* 1835 screens |
7 SKINAMARINK $133k (cum. $1.8) 286 screens |
|
8 🔺 FEAR $1.2 *NEW* 974 screens |
8 ★ BROKER $70k (cum. $1.0) 75 screens |
|
9 🔺★ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE $1.0 (cum. $71) 1400 screens |
9 🔺★ CLOSE $68k *NEW* 4 screens |
|
10 THE WHALE $1.0 (cum. $14.9) 1721 screens |
10 ★ TRIANGLE OF SADNESS $48k (cum. $4.2) 170 screens |
|
11 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER $757k (cum. $453) 1030 screens |
11 ★ EO $45k (cum. $829k) 64 screens |
|
12 🔺★ THE FABELMANS $738k (cum. $16) 1962 screens |
12 TURN EVERY PAGE... $29k (cum. $155k) 20 screens |
|
13 HOUSE PARTY $734k (cum. $8.3) 1047 screens |
13 THE SON $27k (cum. $429k) 172 screens |
|
14 🔺★ THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN $352k (cum. $9.8) 1205 screens |
14 ★ SAINT OMER $17k (cum. $181k) 12 screens |
|
15 I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY $225k (cum. $23.5) 1205 screens |
15 ★ ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED $16k (cum. $404k) 26 screens |
|
there are 15 movies currently in wide release |
16 🔺★ ONE FINE MORNING $13k *NEW* 3 screens |
Best Picture nominees Women Talking, The Fabelmans, The Banshees of Inisherin, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and TAR re-released in more theaters than last week and increased in money. Even non-BP nominees like Living and The Whale received a nice boost from their acting nominations. Obviously, Avatar's nominatons didn't hurt its box office haul.
I talked about it a little last week, but Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, A Man Called Otto, and M3GAN continue to make solid money behind the Avatar behemoth. Puss in Boots is already over $325 million worldwide, while M3GAN might reach close to $200 million.
On the platform/limited side, Indian action continues to make box office waves in the US as Pathaan made almost $6 million in less than 700 theaters. Brandan Cronenberg's R-rated version of Infinity Pool actually opened in almost 2,000 theaters and made decent money for as odd as it is. Best International Film contender Close from Belgium made over $17,000 per screen on just four screens. EO from Poland is also still out and nearing $1 million making it one of the top 20 subtitled hits of the past year.
Next Weekend - Avatar might finally get dethroned with the award-winning ladies of 80 for Brady as well as the return of M. Night Shyamalan with Knock at the Cabin.
What did you watch this weekend? I caught a rewatch of Women Talking (which was even better the second time), International Film Oscar nominee EO, and a first-time watch of the Tony Curtis-Sidney Poitier film The Defiant Ones.