As Hollywood turns to the holiday season to premiere some of its biggest titles of the year, the Christmas holiday weekend is customarily a moneymaker for the motion picture industry. But although Avatar: The Way of Water still dominating the box office, most other films saw a stagnation as the harsh winter weather lowered audience expectations.
The only winner at the Christmas box office appears to be James Cameron’s follow-up to 2009’s Avatar. The 20th Century and Disney picture is anticipated to earn $82 million over the course of the four-day weekend from 4,202 cinemas, despite the majority of other movies performing poorly. On Christmas Day, Avatar: The Way of Water will have made $253.7 million domestically and just over $855 million globally. With a strong foreign push, it is certain to surpass the $900 million mark internationally within days, bringing it close to the rumoured $2 billion the movie needs to make to break even.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which opened midweek, took second place at the box office, raking an estimated four-day holiday gross of $17.8 million from 4,099 theaters across the U.S. The marquis family film from Dreamworks Animation, though, was projected to open in the $30 to $35 million range. However, distributor Universal Pictures is likely happy that the film will have almost no competition as the end of the year approaches, and despite the Christmas shortcomings, the film has earned more than $50 million globally.
