This puts the film past ‘The Dark Knight’s domestic haul.
With another strong weekend-to-weekend hold, Avatar: The Way of Water is continuing to attract audiences over the holiday period, and is looking to claim its fifth weekend at the top of the domestic box office. After a $7 million fifth Friday, the epic science-fiction sequel’s running domestic total now stands at $538 million. It’s still pacing ahead of the first Avatar, which had made around $500 million by the same point, but not holding as well.
The film will pass the $550 mark at the domestic box office by Sunday, and is expected to hit $566 million by the end of the extended four-day MLK weekend. The Way of Water is currently projected to add around $29 million over the regular three-day weekend, and $36 million across the four-day holiday frame, falling by just 36% from the last weekend. Globally, the film’s running tally stands at over $1.7 billion, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2022.
While it still trails Top Gun: Maverick domestically — that long-awaited sequel made $718 million — it will overtake the lifetime haul of The Lion King remake ($543 million) by Sunday, placing it at the number 13 spot on the all-time list. The film just overtook The Dark Knight ($535 million) to claim the 14th spot on the all-time domestic box office list.
