“Avatar: The Way of Water” has made fantastic waves at the box office on its third weekend. On Friday the film beat the evening estimates with $24.4M which is a 27% increase from last week. That makes the James Cameron film set for $67.8M 3-day weekend, up 7% from last weekend’s Christmas time frame with a potential estimated 4-day between $87M-92M.

Coming from the highest part of that range, “Avatar 2” has a chance of dipping 4% from its Dec. 23-26 take of $95.6M. In that range, the film could beat the 18-day running total of its competitor, 2016’s “Rouge One: A Star Wars Story” which was at $440.9M with a range of $446M-$450M. By Monday, “Avatar 2” could best “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” which had a rising total of $440M. A conservative estimate would have “Avatar 2” third week at $77M over 4 days, which means it would be at $435.1M and 1% behind “Rouge One” by Monday.

“Avatar 2” looks to have a prosperous New Year for total overall domestic weekend marketplace of $104.2M, a 5% increase of New Year’s weekend 2022, when “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was at $98.9M.

The rest of the box office is as follows for December 30, 2022-January 2, 2023:

1) Avatar: The Way of Water (Dis/20th) 4,202 theaters, Fri $24.4M (+27%), 3-day $67.8M (+7%)/4-day $87M-$92M/Total: $450M-$446M/ Wk 3

2) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Uni) 4,121 (+22) theaters, Fri $6.46M (+70%)  3-day $15.95M (+28%), 4-day $21.1M/Total $65.5M/Wk 2

3) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis) 2,310 (+60) theaters, Fri $1.82M (+82%) 3 day $5M (+43%)/4-day $6.7M/Total $439.8M/Wk 8

4) I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Sony) 3,625 theaters, Fri $1.46M (-27%) 3-day $4.1M (-13%) 4-day $5.2M/Total $15.8MWk 2

5) Babylon(Par) 3,351 (+8) theaters Fri $935K (-36%) 3-day $3M (-17%) 4-day $4M/Total  $11.4M/Wk 2

6) Violent Night (Uni) 2,563 (+1) Fri $810K (-15%)  3-day $2.1M (-39%) 4-day $2.67M Total $48M/Wk 5

7) The Whale(A24) 623 (+20) theaters, Fri $491,5K (+64%), 3-day $1.5M (+597%) 4-day $2M Total $6.4M/Wk 4

8)The Menu (Sea) 860 (+20) theaters, Fri $386K (+121%) 3-day $1.03M (+47%) 4-Day $1.3M Total $36.3M/Wk 7

9) Fabelmans (Uni/Amb) 1,149 (+27) theaters, Fri $320K (+157%) 3 day $980K (+31%), 4-day $1.27M Total $12.3M/Wk 8

10.) Strange World (Dis) 1,240 (-150) theaters, Fri $201K (+39%) 3-day $504K (+17%), 4-day $700K, Total $37.2M/Wk 6