The Blumhouse evil-doll horror film \u201cM3gan\u201d got off to a killer start, debuting with $30.2 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates, while \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d continued its box-office reign in the top spot.
Universal Pictures\u2019 \u201cM3gan,\u201d about a robot companion built for a young girl after her parents are killed in a car accident, rode strong buzz and viral dancing memes to an above-expectations debut. In the low-budget slasher, starring Allison Williams, Blumhouse and producer James Wan crafted Hollywood\u2019s first hit of the new year, likely spawning a new high-concept horror franchise. Audiences gave the PG-13 film a \u201cB\u201d CinemaScore \u2014 though reviews (94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) were stronger for the modern, techy twist on a \u201cChild\u2019s Play\u201d-like thriller. It added $10 million internationally.
But while \u201cM3gan\u201d drew audiences largely in 2D showings, large-format screens continued to be soaked up by James Cameron\u2019s \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water.\u201d The 3-D three-hour sequel remained No. 1 for the fourth straight week in U.S. and Canadian theaters with $45 million in sales.
Cameron\u2019s sci-fi spectacle has now surpassed $500 million domestically and $1.7 billion globally. After dominating the otherwise lackluster holiday corridor, the \u201cAvatar\u201d sequel is nearly matching the original\u2019s pace; the 2009 \u201cAvatar\u201d scored $50.3 million in its fourth weekend. \u201cThe Way of Water\u201d already ranks as the seventh highest grossing film ever, not accounting for inflation \u2014 a total particularly owed to its strong overseas performance. The film\u2019s $1.2 billion in international ticket sales exceeds that of any film released since the start of the pandemic.
\u201cM3gan\u201d was the only new film in wide release, though Sony Pictures\u2019 \u201cA Man Called Otto,\u201d starring Tom Hanks, played in 637 theaters after first launching in four theaters. The film, a remake of the Swedish film \u201cA Man Called Ove,\u201d managed a solid $4.2 million ahead of its nationwide release on Friday.
(AP)
Third place went to \u201cPuss in Boots: The Last Wish,\u201d with $13.1 million in its third week of release. The animated Universal Pictures sequel has tallied $87.7 million in three weeks, plus $109.7 million internationally.
While many awards contenders have struggled in recent months at the box office, Darren Aronofsky\u2019s \u201cThe Whale\u201d is proving a modest exception. The A24 indie starring Brendan Fraser ranked seventh in its fifth week of release with $1.5 million and a cumulative total of $8.6 million \u2014 a good return for a film that cost an estimated $3 million to make. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Blumhouse evil-doll horror film \u201cM3gan\u201d got off to a killer start, debuting with $30.2 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates, while \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d continued its box-office reign in the top spot.Universal Pictures\u2019 \u201cM3gan,\u201d about a robot companion built for a young girl after her parents are killed in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":320706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-320651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-infotainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}