Avatar: The Way of Water Loses First Friday Box Office Since Premiere

Avatar: The Way of the Water was released in theaters last month, and this week it beat Top Gun: Maverick to become the highest-grossing film of 2022. The James Cameron-directed sequel is expected to win the box office again this weekend, but it did lose its first Friday yesterday thanks to a special little doll named M3GAN. M3GAN is the new Blumhouse horror movie that became an instant hit on social media back when the trailer was released. Now it’s finally in theaters, and fans are loving it. According to Collider, M3GAN is the first movie to beat Avatar: The Way of the Water at the Friday box office. 

M3GAN took home $11.7 million on Friday, including the $2.7 million from Thursday night previews. The movie is expected to earn $27.5 million by the end of the weekend, which will still put it in second place after The Way of the Water. However, the new Avatar earned slightly less than M3GAN on its fourth Friday, $11.4 million, but it is still expected to make $38 million to $43 million by the end of the weekend.

Did M3GAN Beat Avatar: The Way of the Water‘s Rotten Tomatoes Score?

Avatar: The Way of the Water currently has a 77% critics score and a 92% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes while M3GAN is currently up on the review site with a 94% critics score and a 78% audience score. ComicBook.com‘s Patrick Cavanaugh gave the new horror movie a 3 out of 5 in his review while ComicBook.com‘s Liam Crowley gave Avatar: The Way of the Water a 5 out of 5. 

Who Stars in Avatar: The Way of the Water?

The Avatar sequel features returning stars such as Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, and Sigourney Weaver. The cast for the sequels also includes several more newcomers than returning members, though, with the likes of Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, David Thewlis, Vin Diesel, and CJ Jones all set to appear as well. 

Who Stars in M3GAN? 

You can read the official synopsis for M3GAN here: “M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Get Out‘s Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to. When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House), Gemma’s unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems — a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.”

M3GAN and Avatar: The Way of the Water are now playing in theaters.