While the most watched movie during this last weekend was likely A Christmas Story, the festive weekend saw Avatar: The Way of Water retain its top spot at the domestic box office. In the face of the winter cold, James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel brought in an impressive haul in its second weekend, topping out the 4-day weekend at $95.5 million. Being shown in 4,202 theaters across the US, Avatar: The Way of Water saw $19.5 million on Friday this week with that number dropping to $15 million the next day on Christmas Eve. The day-to-day domestic nearly doubled on Sunday, reaching $29.5 million. Monday saw the film reach its highest box office number for the weekend at $31.5 million. The $95.5 million made from the 4-day weekend brings the film’s domestic total across its two weekends to $293.2 million as the film closes in on $1 billion at the Global Box Office, which has now passed $950 million worldwide.The last film that had its second weekend in theaters when Christmas fell on a Sunday was also a massive Disney franchise with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story back in 2016, which saw the prequel film earn $96.1 million in its Weekend 2, slightly outpacing Avatar: The Way of Water. When compared to its 2009 predecessor, the $293.2 million, while a great income, only makes up 26% of the 2009 film’s first 11 days. Avatar surpassed the $400 million mark in only 23 days, so it will be up to the New Year’s weekend to see if its sequel can catch up to the film that went on to be the highest-grossing film of all time.
