Box Office: 'Avatar 2' Earns $90 Million Over Holiday Weekend, 'Babylon' Bombs Over Christmas

UPDATED: James Cameron's sci-fi sequel "Avatar: Path of Water" topped the Christmas box office, even as a massive winter storm kept audiences at home.

Severe weather is hitting much of the United States with freezing temperatures, high winds and snow blankets, contributing to low movie attendance. For theater owners, it's a particularly disappointing coda through 2022 as they rely on the holiday season for bustling attendance. Hollywood was already worried that revenue would be depressed because Christmas Eve falls on Saturday and Christmas lands on Sunday, squeezing weekend numbers. With bad weather, as well as growing concerns over COVID, RSV and influenza cases, a trio of new releases failed to find box office resonance.

The three major novelties - Paramount's glitzy showbiz epic "Babylon", animated "Puss" by Universal and DreamWorks in Boots: The Last Wish" and Whitney Houston's Sony biopic "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" - as well as the sequel "Avatar" will try to catch up next week. Many Americans take off between Christmas and New Year's is therefore a popular time to go to the cinema.

Even in adverse circumstances, "Avatar: The Way of Water" managed to pull in strong numbers , earning a better-than-expected $64 million over the traditional weekend and $90 million through Monday. Disney and 20th Century originally projected the sequel to gross $56 million over the weekend and $82 million over the four-day holiday. However, the film enjoyed a more robust turnout over Christmas. With those ticket sales, a 52% drop from its debut, "The Way of Water"'s national tally stands at $287 million.

The first "Avatar" faced similarly harsh weather conditions when it opened in December 2009, but that was not the case. t prevent the film, over time, from crushing records with $760 million in North America and $2.92 billion worldwide.

With promising business during the week, the "Avatar" sequel grossed $601 million internationally and $855.4 million worldwide, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 2022 after just 10 days in theaters. By the end of the year, the $350 million budget tentpole aims to hit the $1 billion mark. Only two other films, 'Top Gun: Maverick' and 'Jurassic World Dominion', managed to reach that benchmark this year.

Far from Pandora, the R-rated "Babylon", directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, bombarded with $3.6 million from 3,343 sites over the weekend and $5.3 million through Monday. The film's particularly terrible start, as well as its "C+" Audience CinemaScore, suggest that even with the winter blues, the 3 hour, 9 minute "Babylon" may not have resonated on the big screen.

That's a problem because the movie cost around $80 million to produce and dozens of million more to market, meaning Oscar hopefuls will become a money loser unless business picks up in the next few days. The film's international release in late January should help ticket sales. But barring a reversal of fortune, "Babylon" might be the only flaw in Paramount's surprisingly bright year at the box office, with hits ranging from "Top Gun: Maverick" to chilling thriller "Smile." /p>

David A. Gross, who runs film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research, suggests he There's still room for optimism about "Babylon," an over-the-top ode to Hollywood. "The film will get a boost if it gets big award nominations," he says.