The Way of Water’ Grosses $8 Million More Sunday than Expected
As industry observers suggested yesterday, “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Disney) did much better on Christmas than the studio initially estimated. The domestic net was actually $29.5 million and not $21.5 million. The weekend’s total was $64,000,000, not $54,000,000 as originally stated.
This is a huge positive sign for James Cameron’s film. December 26 is also a holiday that has often grossed more than Christmas. With eight more days of holiday play through January 2, based on the Christmas Day performance, James Cameron’s film could see an additional $150 million or more domestic box office Its total would be increased by another $1. That would bring it to over $400 million. Before that, the film was given a fair ride for several week as the probable #1, even with decreasing numbers. This suggests that the domestic total could be closer to $600million than initially projected.
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As opposed to the originally reported 58 percent, the drop in the three days was only 52 percent. This compares well to “Rogue One,” which dominated Christmas in 2016 when the calendar last matched up with this year. This is even more significant considering that weather had a significant impact on Friday and Saturday which further hurt box office.
Curiously, among the Top Ten films for the weekend, only “The Way of Water” didn’t more than double its Christmas Eve gross. It is not uncommon for one film to do most of the business. It could also have been helped Saturday by significant pre-buys, and those who would otherwise have deferred are still going.
Among early revised numbers still coming in, #3 “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” (Sony) fell significantly from its initial estimate. It earned $4,765,000 instead of the $5,300,000. “Babylon” (Paramount), though improving by $100,000, was still a weak $3,600,000.
Though the better grosses for “The Way of Water” are indeed good news, the three-day weekend still took in only $94 million. That’s 62 percent less than 2019, when ticket prices were 20 percent lower, and down more than a third from last year (with a more favorable December 24-26 calendar).
Disney only reported results from the domestic market, and more details about international data will follow.
As all figures have been reported, a revised chart will be available.
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