It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in a harrowing way. According to CNN, there are upwards of 100 million people in the U.S. with wind-chill alerts in the north/east areas, with 1.7 million of those without power Saturday morning.
This freezing weather and Christmas falling on a Sunday is to blame for fallen box office totals. The total weekend box office over three days for all titles is estimated to be $85.5M. That number is -53% from 2016, the last time Christmas fell on a Sunday, and -41% when Spider-Man: No Way Home was in its second weekend.
20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water was coming in at $19.5M on Friday afternoon, that’s down 63% for a three-day total of $55M and $82M for the four-day frame.
Avatar 2 is now at $20M Friday afternoon, which will put the film on track to hit a $83M 4-day total. If the sequel hits $90M at the 4,202 theaters it’s playing in, that will put the film’s 11-day box office at $280.7M.
According to Box Office Mojo, globally, Avatar: The Way of Water has reached $661.58M. Remember, this film needs to reach 2 Billion dollars at the box office to break even.
There’s no doubt people want to go see the new Avatar film, once the holidays and bad weather are over the industry should boost back up.
Here’s a full list of titles and rankings for Saturday the 24th:
1.) Avatar: The Way of Water (Dis/20th) 4,202 theaters, Fri $19.5M (-63%), 3-day $55M (-59%)/4-day $82M/Total: $279.7M/ Wk 2
2.) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Uni) 4,099 theaters, Fri $3.8M, 3-day $11.1M, 4-day $17.4M/Total $24.3M/Wk 1
3.) I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Sony) 3,625 theaters, Fri $2M 3-day $5.3M-$5.5M 4-day $8M-$10M/Wk 1
4.) Babylon (Par) 3,343 theaters Fri $1.47M 3-day $3.34M 4-day $5M/Wk 1
5.) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis) 2,250 (-1130) theaters, Fri $1M (-30%) 3 day $2.65M (-50%)/4-day $3.89M/Total $426.5M/Wk 7
6.) Violent Night (Uni) 2,562 (-966) Fri $970K (-32%) 3-day $2.65M (-48%) 4-day $3.5M Total $41.9M/Wk 4
7.) The Whale (A24) 603 (+597) theaters, Fri $300K (+512%), 3-day $933K (+548%) 4-day $1.3M Total $2.85M/Wk 3
8) The Menu (Sea) 840 (-1035 theaters), Fri $175K (-65%) 3-day $508K (-41%) 4-Day $739K Total $33.9M/Wk 6
9) Strange World (Dis) 1,390 (-1,480) theaters, Fri $145K (-72%) 3-day $380K (-82%) 4-day $561K Total $35.75M/Wk 5
10.) Fabelmans (Uni/Amb) 1,122 (+167) theaters, Fri $120K (-44%), 3 day $344K (-54%), 4-day $534K Total $9.7M/Wk 7