Avatar: The Way of Water to Win Christmas Box Office Frozen by Winter Weather

Even a record-breaking winter storm can't stop the success of Avatar: The Way of Water at the Christmas weekend box office. Christmastime marks the second weekend for the Avatar sequel in theaters, and competition from the likes of Babylon and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish isn't enough to keep the James Cameron flick from the top spot. The opening weekend for Avatar: The Way of Water started with $53 million on its opening night, leading to an opening weekend total of $134 million domestic. The majority of the U.S. is currently blanketed by a winter storm, but that hasn't kept Avatar fans away from theaters.

Movie theaters have had a rough 2022, as customers slowly return following the pandemic, and superhero tentpole films are the only ones finding success. Avatar: The Way of Water has the advantage of its predecessor's record-breaking success to help propel it, and other recent releases really haven't been able to compete. Avatar: The Way of Water earned $56 million from 4,202 North American theaters this weekend, and should be around $82 million between Friday and Monday. That would bring its overall domestic number to $278 million.

The first Avatar also suffered from harsh winter conditions in December 2009, but it still went on to gross $760 million in North America and $2.92 billion globally. Avatar 2's international number sits at $601 million and $855.4 million globally. The movie is already the fifth-highest-grossing movie of the year, and it achieved that after only 10 days.

Avatar: The Way of Water Dominates Box Office

Unfortunately for Avatar: The Way of Water's competition, the box office numbers aren't nearly as pretty. The Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt flick Babylon only earned $3.5 million from 3,343 theaters over the Christmas weekend, which will equal an estimated $5.3 million through Monday. Babylon may not even have the benefit of the doubt of blaming the winter storm for its depressing numbers, as audiences just haven't been drawn to the Damien Chazelle-directed film.

The Shrek spinoff Puss in Boots: The Last Wish came in second place for the Christmas weekend. It earned $11.3 million from 4,099 theaters, bringing its numbers through Monday to an estimated $17.7 million. Puss in Boots is one of the only family-friendly offerings in theaters at the moment, but there's hope the box office numbers will rebound. "This opening has been all but knocked out by extreme weather," David A. Gross of the consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research said. "With schools on holiday, the movie can recover some of its business next week."

Did you make it to a theater in this wintery weather? If so, let us know about your experience in the comments.