‘Avatar 2‘ Continues Box Office Domination, ’Puss in Boots' Sequel Stays Surprisingly Strong

‘Avatar 2‘ Continues Box Office Domination, ’Puss in Boots' Sequel Stays Surprisingly Strong,James Cameron's "The Way of Water" has claimed the No. 1 spot for the sixth consecutive weekend, staying ahead of the opening of "Missing."

‘Avatar 2‘ Continues Box Office Domination, ’Puss in Boots’ Sequel Stays Surprisingly Strong

James Cameron’s blockbuster sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” has claimed the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office for the sixth consecutive weekend.

The sci-fi epic added $20 million from 3,790 theaters over the weekend, declining roughly 40% from its prior outing and boosting its North American tally to $598 million. It’s currently the 13th-highest grossing domestic release in history behind “Incredibles 2” ($608 million), “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” ($620 million) and “The Avengers” ($623 million), but it’s expected to eventually overtake those films.

Notably, “The Way of Water” is officially the sixth film to ever cross $2 billion worldwide. It has amassed a staggering $2.02 billion at the worldwide box office, recently taking down “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.91 billion) as the sixth-highest grossing release of all time. It’s likely to soon dethrone “Avengers: Infinity War” as the fifth-biggest movie with $2.04 billion.

Though the Na’vi have continued to dominate the box office with ease, Universal’s animated adventure “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” has remained surprisingly strong since debuting around Christmas. Now in its fifth weekend of release, the kid-friendly sequel took second place with $11.5 million from 3,611 cinemas. To date, “Puss in Boots 2” has grossed $126.4 million domestically and $297 million globally — a huge result at a time when family films haven’t been resonating as much at the box office.

In terms of new releases, Sony’s suspense thriller “Missing” took the No. 4 spot with $9.3 million from 3,025 theaters. That’s a pretty good start since the film was produced for just $7 million. Storm Reid stars in “Missing” as a daughter whose mother never returns home from vacation with her new boyfriend. It’s billed as a standalone sequel to 2018’s “Searching” with John Cho, which was also set entirely on computer screens and smartphones. That movie, which cost under $1 million to make, opened to $6 million and ultimately earned $26 million in North America and $75 million globally.

“This is a very good opening for a low-budget follow-up sequel,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “This is a very profitable and growing series.”

Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Universal’s killer-doll movie “M3GAN” slid to third place, generating $9.8 million from 3,628 theaters in its third weekend in theaters. The low-budget film, which became a viral sensation and was recently parodied on “Saturday Night Live,” had grossed a killer $72 million and $127 million worldwide. Naturally, a sequel, titled “M3GAN 2.0,” is already in the works.

Sony’s heartfelt drama “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks, rounded out the top five. The film declined just 34% from last weekend, generating $9 million from 3,802 venues and boosting its domestic tally to $35.3 million.