Weekend Box Office: New Year, New Highs
Wednesday, January 4, 2023 at 10:25PM By Ben Miller
In a refreshing change of pace, the long holiday weekend box office was full of good news! Pretty much every film was up following that storm-stifling Christmas weekend. Nothing new debuted in wide release, so Avatar: The Way of Water was able to actually increase from the week before. James Cameron's movies typically have remarkable legs. Its $67.4 million haul was good enough to place it as the third best third weekend of all-time, behind the film's predecessor and The Force Awakens. Very good company to be in, box office-wise. But it wasn't just Avatar. Of the top 16 films at the box office, 13 increased from the week before!
| Weekend Box Office (actuals) Dec 30th-January 2nd 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER |
 THE WHALE |
| 1 ★ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER $67.4 (cum. $425.5) 4202 screens |
1 🔺 THE WHALE $1.3 (cum. $5.8) 623 screens |
| 2 PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH $16.8 (cum. $61.2) 4121 screens |
2 EMPIRE OF LIGHT $118k (cum. $953k) 300 screens |
| 3 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER $5.1 (cum. $438.2) 2310 screens |
3 ★ THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN $67k (cum. $9.0) 75 screens |
| 4 WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY $3.9 (cum. $14.5) 3625 screnes |
4 ★ EO $61k (cum. $444k) 44 screens |
|
5 BABYLON $2.6 (cum. $10) 3351 screens |
5 I HEARD THE BELLS $60k (cum. $5.6) 63 screens |
|
6 VIOLENT NIGHT $2.1 (cum. $47.5) 2563 screens |
6 🔺 A MAN CALLED OTTO $58k *NEW* 4 screens |
 THE MENU |
 A MAN CALLED OTTO |
|
7 ★ THE MENU $1.1 (cum. $36.1) 860 screens |
7 ★ TÁR $47k (cum. $5.6) 45 screens |
|
8 ★ THE FABELMANS $1.0 (cum. $12.1) 1149 screens |
8 ★ WOMEN TALKING $40k (cum. $151k) 8 screens |
|
9 STRANGE WORLD $501k (cum. $36.9) 1240 screens |
9 BROKER $28k (cum. $54k) 4 screens |
|
Only nine films are in wide release (>800 screens) |
10 ★ CORSAGE $26k (cum. $77k) 3 screens |
The only new platform release was the Tom Hanks-starring A Man Called Otto. Unsurprisingly, it made a whopping $14.5k per screen; second best for the week behind Avatar. The film expands to wide release in two weeks. Meanwhile, don't look now but the middling reviews for Darren Aronofsky's The Whale aren't having much impact on its box office. The film has made solid money despite never being in more than 700 theaters and keeps doing steady business. The Brendan Fraser comback vehicle has already outgrossed fellow platform release Oscar-contenders TAR, Decision to Leave, and Triangle of Sadness. Maybe we're underestimating its chances?
Next week -- Speaking of Oscar-hopefuls, Sarah Polley's Women Talking gets a wide release alongside future horror camp classic M3GAN. Neither are expected to make a big dent, so The Way of Water should continue its reign.
What did you see this weekend? I've been deep in the groove of knocking out Oscar blindspots, so I watched Mighty Aphrodite, A Single Man, Lillies of the Field, Nine, The Last Station, and The Miracle Worker. I was also able to catch Glass Onion for a second time, which was even better upon rewatch.
Reader Comments (11)
I watched Empire of Light and The Fabelmans.
I liked Empire better than most people it seems. The art direction and cinematography is beautiful. Olivia Coleman was wonderful. I know she is competing for fifth spot in best actress right now but I hope she gets in.
Michelle Williams brought my packed audience to audible sobbing multiple times. I think she might have a better chance to win than I originally thought. I also believe she belongs in the leading category. But the whole ensemble is fantastic.
I watched Aftersun. The film is OK, quite depressing. But Paul Mescal. God, thank you Hollywood for discovering this hottie with which you'll afflict us for the next ten years.
I saw Emily the Criminal late last night. What a truly captivating story without shortchanging the finer points of its narrative structure. A character-driven thriller that gains momentum as it slowly but persuasively propels Emily deeper and deeper into the enticing and dangerous underground economy she found herself gravitating towards. Was it the lure of money, the irresistible pull of danger, the seductive possibilities of incipient romance, or all three?
Aubrey Plaza is deep into Anamaria Marinca territory of heroines who remains rock-steady as she makes sense of the absurdities of the situation. She is completely believable and it is hard not to root for her as the ever-shifting landscape she finds herself in threaten to diminish her. To me, her standout scene was with a lady boss and how that exchange escalates from gender solidarity to a critique of internalised misogyny. Powerful scene from two actresses of equal power and talent.
Although the ending veers towards Queen of the South territory, the linguistic turn scene was unexpectedly moving and totally in keeping with the film's spirit. I like how the title is a riff from an old woman's dreamy imagination of what she thinks Emily is or will be.
I watched The Wedding Singer for the first time ever and it was really terrible! Not a laugh to be found anywhere. Totally get why people say Sandler is an awful actor (makes Uncut Gems & Punch Drunk Love look like miracles).
I also watch Aftersun. There are a lot of films this year in the running for “most overrated” and this is definitely up there. I would like to read about film critics (and film “critics”) separating out their feelings for Paul Mescal’s character (and perhaps Mescal as a person) and what actually impressed them about the choices Mescal made as an actor that warrant all this praise.
@charlea-That ass!
“The Menu”
I was entertained. I mentally put it in the same genre box as 2022’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies”.
“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody”
Described as “a celebration of her life” rather than “the story of her tragedy”. Yeah okay. I liked it, the audience loved it. I’ll let the summation of it be done by people with more expertise than myself.
“The Pale Blue Eye”
Christian Bale is one of my favourite actors and I always enjoy watching him work. He has a good part here, and the director has taken care in assembling a top notch cast and excellent technical team.
I liked the acting duet between Christian Bale and Harry Melling (playing a young Edgar Allen Poe). They sometimes use contrasting external acting styles, but are on the same internal wavelength (which is good for the story).
I wonder if the movie would have been better served by having been filmed when the novel the movie is based on was published (2006?). Movie and thriller tropes have been interrogated a lot in the past nearly 20 years, and we are more resistant to many of them now.
I had a mixed watching week
The Good House Sigourney proving she still has it,Oscar should consider her
Resurrection 2022 If Blanchett had done this there'd be Oscar talk,top form Rebecca Hall
Craze 74 Edith Evans Jack Palance thriller
The Age of Innocence IMO Scorsese's best film
I Start Counting 60's Jenny Agutter drama/thriller
Charlie Bubbles Finney's only directing job,found it hard to like,Liza's in it too
Got the dreaded COVID again, so house-bound with some entertaining viewing choices:
SLOW HORSES S2 (AppleTV+) - Stellar spy game stuff. Great supporting cast, and Gary Oldman doing his best Gary Oldman thing.
HAPPY VALLEY S3 E1 (BBC) - still the best UK drama in the last 10 years. My love for Sarah Lancashire's acting ability knows no bounds.
EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (again, on Showtime) - If Michelle Yeoh does not get an Oscar nom, the AMPAS voters are shit. And hubby reminded me that Stephanie Hsu is Mei on Mrs. Maisel. She's great in both!
BULLET TRAIN (Netflix) - ridiculous, but fun. I freaking love Brian Tyree Henry.
GLASS ONION (Netflix) - decent, but I liked the first one better. Kathryn Hahn was wasted.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COSBY (Showtime) - Whew. So good, so sad.
JACK RYAN S3 E1 (Prime) - This one hour of television has some crazy action set pieces, equal or better than what we see in most films.
Also watched:
Enola Holmes 2 (Netflix)
Matilda (Netflix)
Both extremely entertaining (though one of my favs, Emma Thompson, is bordering on camp Streep (e.g, Lemony Snicket, Mary Poppins Returns, The Prom) with that performance as Miss Trunchbull; I'm not a fan); both films made me long to be a 10 year old girl again.
@Charlea I had seen Paul Mescal before in pictures and such but had never seen him act in anything,I don't watch TV shows much they just go on and on,I like my drama to be done and dusted in a cpl of hours
I found him to be a natural screen presence,able to convey complex emotions with glances and body language,I know it's not the kind of acting that Oscar often goes for but i found him and the film overall deeply affecting,not because I lost someone young but I do have a strange relationship with my Dad so it resonated just that bit more than anything i'd seen all year.
It's what you bring to a movie is how deep it stays with you,I can't understand anyone who would shed one tear watching Michelle Williams in The Fabelmans as TomG described but each to their own.
Michelle Williams is a good actress but I did not care for her in the movie The Fabelmans.
She le ft me cold IK liked Paul Dano ... as always. And I thought the young boy was very good/.
The movie overall was quite dull.