The last weekend of January 2023 is over. January always seems to fly by so Avatar The Way of Water will end the first month of this year the same way as it ended the last month of last years: on top! The James Cameron sequel is now officially ranked number ten in the all-time domestic earnings list, with an additional $15.7million to its impressive domestic total $620.5 million. Quite the feat when you consider it opened to less than The Twilight Saga: New Moon (the angsty vampire sequel starring a young Batman opened to $142.8 million while Avatar 2 opened to $134.1 million).
Officially, the real story lies in the worldwide gross where Avatar : The Way of Water has accumulated an impressive $2.09 Billion where it has overtaken Star Wars Episode VII and is just $100 million away of sinking the Titanic 10for a second consecutive year. I really doubt it has another $700 million in its tank to bring down Avengers: Endgame to claim the second spot on the all time list, but I have learned that when it comes to anything Avatar: never say never. Did I mention that it was nominated this week for the Academy Award as Best Picture? !
Coming in at second place is the animated film Puss In Boots: The Last Wish , which has an estimated $10.6million. This is quite impressive considering that it is only $2 million less than what it opened with in December. It has just $9 million to go before surpassing the domestic total of the original film’s domestic box office. Add to that the continued success of A Man Called Otto , which took in $6.7 million to its impressive total of $46.05million, we can see that it is worth releasing your movies in December.
Horror is proving to be a killer genre with $6.3 million to her till, M3GAN 00101010is the little doll that could! The film is one of two “edited to content” movies this week. (We’ll get to that shortly). It was originally intended to be a R rated bloodfest, but it was remade as a PG13 movie to make it a great family movie. Even though I would prefer to see the R rated cut (as our own Chris Bumbray points out in his 7/10 review, it is pretty obvious where some of these cuts were made) it is hard to argue with the PG13 theatrical cut’s gross of $82.2 million off of a reported $12 million budget.Missing
and Plane continue to pull in run of the mill numbers with Missing netting an additional $5.6 million this weekend and Plane adding $3.8 million. I went to Plane 02001010this weekend, and found it quite entertaining. The first twenty minutes of the actual plane crash are very well done. Gerard Butler continues to show why he is the right person to direct these action movies. It’s worth seeing in theaters. But if you don’t have the chance to go, I recommend it on video. Chris Bumbray, my colleague, gave Plane a solid 8/10. So, we now have new releases to discuss. Pathaan
made a very respectable $5.9million on just 700 screens. This one was a surprise to me, as it wasn’t even in my Thursday predictions. These films are targeted at specific audiences have proven their worth. These films that are geared towards specific audiences are beginning to gain more respect and acclaim. The National Board of Review just named RRRone of the best films of the Year. It is only the second non-English language film to achieve this honor. It did not win Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars this year due to India not having submitted it for consideration. However, it is still up for nomination (and currently the front runner) for the Oscar for Best Original Song.The Brandon Cronenberg (son to David) film Infinity pool
10 is the next release on our charts with an estimated $2.7 Million. This film, much like his father’s films, has been controversial. It was given an NC-17 rating for excessive sexual and violent content (which makes it even more amazing). The dirty little secret is that you saw the film in theaters this weekend. Most major movie chains won’t play a NC-17 rated film for reasons I don’t fully understand. If you were able to make it to this year’s Sundance Film Festival, as our Editor in Chief Chris Bumbray, you were among the few who saw Cronenberg’s debaucherous tale in all its NC-17 glory (where Mr. Bumbray gave the film his approval with an 8/10 rating). We can only hope that we get the complete Brandon Cronenberg approved cut of the movie when it hits Blu-ray later in the year.The faith-based Left behind: Rise of the Antichrist
is the next release on our Box Office tour with an estimated $2.3 million. Kevin Sorbo directed and starred in the top ten movie on their 2023 box-office scorecard. Anyone?? Anyone? Kirk Cameron was the star of the film franchise that began in 2000. This film received poor reviews and only made $4 million from a $17million budget. Two years later, a sequel called Left Behind II. Tribulation Force was released. It went straight to video and did well enough that a third film was made. Left Behind – World At War10 starred Lou Gossett Jr. and Kirk Cameron. We always assumed they would share a marquee. In 2014, producers decided to bring in Nicholas Cage as a ringer and reboot the franchise. The movie made $27.4 million on a $16 million budget but earned a rare 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is a prequel to the hugely successful 2019 film The Wandering Earth , which was released on 160 screens. This film is a prequel film to the hugely successful 2019 film The Wandering Earthwhich grossed just under $6 million domestically and $694 million internationally. What did you see? Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check out our weekly poll where we ask what your favorite Tom Hanks Movie is.
