by That was fast. Coming out of its fourth weekend of release, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has topped $1.7B globally and become the No. 7 biggest movie of all time worldwide.
With an estimated $1.708B through Sunday, the 20th Century Studios/Disney sequel has overtaken 2019’s The Lion King ($1.663B) and 2015’s Jurassic World ($1.672B) as it leaps up the chart.
Riding past $1.19B at the international box office, the sci-fi epic has become the highest-grossing overseas release of the pandemic era and the No. 5 title ever offshore behind Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic and Avengers: Infinity War.
The international session delivered $132.6M in 52 markets for an estimated overseas running total of $1,191.3M. The weekend haul repped a 30% drop from last frame, but a significant number of markets saw increases including Brazil (+83%), Spain (+53%) and Germany (+4%) while other holds were very strong.
WoW remains the No. 1 non-local movie in all markets after four weeks (save for Kuwait where M3GAN dethroned the Na’vi this session), and has become the biggest studio movie ever in India.
The Top 5 markets to date are China ($188.3M), France ($107.2M), Germany ($92.6M), Korea ($85.6M) and the UK ($69.1M).
In China, the hold was -55% and Maoyan is still projecting a $220M final. Way of Water officially has another week to run (with Chinese New Year approaching on January 22, it appears unlikely it would get an extension).
In Europe, WoW has grossed an estimated $548M to date (70% 3D/PLFs), Asia-Pacific is at $512M (74% 3D/PLFs) and Latin America has grossed an estimated $131M (53% 3D/PLFs).
After 24 days, the IMAX total has reached $189.5M, making it the format’s fourth biggest release ever. Internationally, it’s at $122M, the third best result of all time.
Meanwhile, Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is closing in on $200M globally, having passed $100M at the international box office this weekend. The session was worth $25.9M in 77 offshore markets for an overseas cume to date of $109.7M. Globally, it’s a whisker away from $200M with $197.4M through Sunday.
Puss is now one of only 10 studio animated titles to cross $100M during the pandemic era internationally, and it has also topped Lightyear overseas. The performance is above Sing 2 at the same point in release.
There were six markets added this frame. Brazil grossed $3.5M including previews, double Sing 2. In Poland, and including previews, the start was $2.6M. Korea launched to $2.4M. In Argentina, the sequel purred with the most admissions for the weekend, but came in No. 2 as Avatar has a much higher average ticket price due to premium formats.
In holdovers, Germany grew 18% to reach $8.9M and overtake the lifetimes of Encanto and Ferdinand. France still leads all play at $14.5M, followed by Mexico with $9.7M, Germany, Australia ($6.2M) and Spain ($5.4M). Still to come are the UK on February 3 and Japan on March 17.
Also from Universal, Blumhouse’s M3GAN scared up another $10M in 34 markets for a 17% dip. The international cume is $14.8M with global at $45M after domestic’s strong opening. The offshore performance is in line with Smile, Invisible Man and The Black Phone at the same point, and above Halloween Ends and Happy Death Day.
In Spain on Friday, the AI doll grabbed the biggest opening day for a horror film since Old in 2021 and grossed $1.2M through Sunday. Italy likewise had a great opening day as the biggest of the pandemic era for a horror title and saw growth over the weekend which came to $1.1M.
Mexico has now grossed $4.4M after two frames, in line with Smile and Halloween Ends, and slightly above The Invisible Man. France rose to $2.5M, in line with Halloween Ends, and above Black Phone. Still on deck are such markets as Australia, Germany, UK, Brazil, Korea and Japan.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (SNY): $4.6M intl weekend (46 markets); $21.8M intl cume/$41.5M global
A Man Called Otto (SNY): $4.4M intl weekend (10 markets); $8.4M intl cume/$12.7M global
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (SNY): $1.6M intl weekend (39 markets); $52.7M intl cume/$99.5M global
