Under a metaphorical box office Christmas tree, Avatar: The Way Of Water gets all the presents
Despite a monster snowstorm complicating things, James Cameron's epic came out on top, making nearly 50 million more than its closest competitor
As Christmas 2022 box office numbers roll in, it’s clear the holiday weekend was all about two things: canceled flights and Avatar: The Way Of Water.
Even as a monster winter storm descended across the continental United States and confined many to their homes, it’s another weekend of victory for James Cameron’s latest. Avatar managed to bring in $64 million over Christmas weekend—a far cry from its nearest competition, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, which only brought in $12.4 million. (Even so, Puss In Boots is expected to secure some bragging rights as the third-highest-grossing film of the holiday season.)
So far, Avatar has grossed $261.7 million total and shows no signs of stopping. At least through the new year, there aren’t any releases lined up that stand to seriously rival Avatar’s dominance (who among the chronically-online set hasn’t seen an image of the Letterboxd-pilled Na’vi?) In just ten days, the film has already become the fifth-highest-grossing movie of 2022 and is well on its way to breaking the $1 billion mark. That’s something only Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World: Dominion have achieved this year—even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s worldwide gross still hovers around the $800 million mark.
In more dour news, Damian Chazelle’s silent-era epic Babylon, much like a set piece featured in the film’s first hour, crashed and burned as the industry kept moving by. The film—which needed to bring home almost $250 million to break even—opened this weekend to just $3.6 million, trailing behind Puss In Boots and the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Holdouts like Violent Night and the ever-popular Black Panther also managed to remain in the top 10 this week.
The full top 10 from the Christmas Weekend box office, via Rotten Tomatoes:
2. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
3. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody
4. Babylon
6. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
7. The Whale
9. The Menu
10. Strange World