‘Avatar 2’ Tops $2.21B Global As ‘Titanic’ Resurfaces & Retains No. 3 Berth On All-Time WW Chart – International Box Office

J. Kim Murphy “Creed III” is set to knock out “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” for the top spot on domestic charts. The MGM released took in an impressive $22 million opening day, a figure that includes $5.45 million from preview screenings earlier in the week. Playing in 4,007 locations, the “Rocky” spinoff is now projecting an opening north of $50 million, exceeding initial expectations that had the drama pegged at an opening in the $30 millions. It would also mark a franchise high across all the “Creed” films and the entire “Rocky” series, rocketing beyond the three-day debuts of the first “Creed” ($29 million) and its 2018 sequel ($35 million).

“Creed III” is packing a mighty punch at the box office.

projected to pull in $40 million its opening weekend. MGM is projecting $35 to $38 million, on par with “Creed II”s $35.5 million opening. The 2018 sequel brought $3.7 million from preview screenings that took place on a Tuesday night ahead of the extended Thanksgiving weekend in 2018.“Creed III” must take in more than $115 domestically and $214 million worldwide to beat its predecessor, while the first installment in the franchise made $109 million in the U.S.

Jordan Moreau “Creed III” is stepping into the box office ring, and Michael B. Jordan’s latest movie has weighed in with $5.45 million in Thursday previews. The third “Creed” film is looking to deliver a powerful blow to the weekend box office with an opening between $36 million to $40 million. It should be the highest opening weekend for the boxing franchise, after the original “Creed” debuted with $29.6 million in 2015 and “Creed II” launched with $35.5 million in 2018. “Creed III” also landed the highest preview grosses of the series. The first movie, which opened on the Wednesday ahead of Thanksgiving in 2015, pulled $1.4 million in Tuesday previews. “Creed II” had a similar pre-Thanksgiving release in 2018 and made $3.7 million in Tuesday previews.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Already the highest grossing local film in its home market, courtroom drama, “A Guilty Conscience” has broken into Hong Kong’s all-time top ten box office ranking with a cumulative of HK$107 million ($13.7 million). Data from Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. shows the film achieving the feat after just 41 days in cinemas and coming within HK$1 million ($150,000) of overtaking “Top Gun: Maverick.” The data firm noted that the last time a Hong Kong film got this far was with fantasy-action-comedy “Kung Fu Hustle” in 2004. Since then, it has been overtaken by a fleet of Hollywood titles. Hong Hong’s current top ten is headed by “Avengers: Endgame” and includes six Marvel movies, the two “Avatar” titles and “Titanic.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter It’s the battle of the threequels at the weekend box office. Michael B. Jordan’s sports drama “Creed III” is taking on two-time champ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” at the movies, though the heavyweight boxer is expected to emerge victorious over Marvel’s tiniest Avenger. “Creed III,” which Jordan directed in his feature filmmaking debut, is projected to earn a trilogy-best $36 million to $40 million from 4,007 North American theaters in its opening weekend. Those ticket sales will easily be enough to defeat Disney’s superhero tentpole “Ant-Man 3,” which looks to add $16 million to $19 million in its third weekend of release. So far, the comic book adventure has grossed $170 million domestically and $366 million globally.

EXCLUSIVE: A24’s The Whale, whose Oscar-nominated star Brendan Fraser scooped the prize for Male Actor in a Leading Role at the SAG Awards on Sunday night, is enjoying a strong run globally, having crossed $30M worldwide in the latest frame. Now at $32.3M global and with more overseas markets to release, the drama counts $15.5M so far from the international box office; that’s a nearly 50/50 split with domestic — a terrific result for a low-budget indie. Its global box office is close to that of The Fabelmans.

Daron James Along with its record setting box office numbers and four Oscar nominations, “Avatar: The Way of Water” brings a “Metkayina” wave of impressive next-gen technology that will undeniably set new industry standards in motion capture, animation and underwater photography.  The original facial motion capture rig that also impressively immersed Andy Serkis as Gollum and Caesar, received an overhaul. Not only physically but also in the way the software replicates a performance.  “We looked at how the muscles in the face, eyes and lips are all related and created a neural network that maps all the connections between them,” says senior VFX supervisor Joe Letteri. “This gave us this sympathetic motion in the actor’s face which allowed us to translate the performance to the character and make each frame more believable.” 

The Quiet Girl, an Oscar contender for Best International Feature, opened to a robust $60k on six screens this weekend for a per-theater average of $10k. The film by Colm Bairead presented by SUPER LTD is based on the short story by Claire Keegan of a shy nine-year-old girl in rural Ireland. It led debuts in a specialty market that’s showing consistent signs of recovery amid a wider slate of films. Emily from Bleecker Street expanded to solid numbers and this year’s program of Oscar Nominated Short Films blew past last year with a $1.6 million cume in week two.

Refresh for latest…: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office.

While the box office climbed out of its August/September slump during the final quarter of 2022, Cinemark still reported a quarterly loss of $99.3 million, or 82 cents per share, amid a sluggish Thanksgiving holiday and a Christmas hampered by winter storms throughout much of the U.S.Cinemark reported quarterly revenue of $599.7 million, a 10% drop from last year’s $666.7 million, and well below Q3’s $650 million. The results came in ahead of the average Wall Street estimate for $568.5 million in revenue, according to Zack’s Investment Services.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Disney’s box office domination has started early in 2023. Six weeks into the new year, the studio has already cleared $1 billion globally, with ticket sales at $1.283 billion to date. It can take other major studios up to 12 months to hit that benchmark. Thanks to the combined turnout for “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and the international re-release of “Titanic,” Disney’s 2023 box office tally stands at $383 domestically and $900 million internationally. James Cameron’s enduring “Avatar” sequel is the main reason that Disney has surpassed $1 billion faster than its rivals. Over the weekend, “The Way of Water” reached a staggering $2.2433 billion worldwide, enough to overtake “Titanic” ($2.2428 billion) as the third-highest grossing movie of all time. Also during the President’s Day holiday frame, the third “Ant-Man” adventure opened across the globe, performing above expectations with $225 million worldwide.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” Disney/20th Century’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has reached one last box office milestone in its tenth weekend in theaters by passing the lifetime gross of “Titanic” with a global total of $2.24 billion. This means that the Best Picture Oscar-nominated sequel sits only behind the first “Avatar” and “Avengers: Endgame” in third on the all-time global box office list before inflation adjustment.

Despite Disney/Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania soaking up the global box office with $225M start, the studio’s sister 20th Century Studios/Lightstorm James Cameron sequel Avatar: The Way of Water refuses to stop, despite the fact that the former title has all the premium tickets. Avatar: The Way of Water‘s running worldwide total now stands at $2.243 billion, making it the third highest movie ever, sending Cameron’s own Titanic (which recently had a re-release) to fourth with $2.242 billion.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter James Cameron’s blockbuster epic “Titanic” has relinquished its spot as the third-highest grossing movie in history to another James Cameron blockbuster epic, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” The sci-fi sequel has generated $2.2433 billion globally, enough to overtake “Titanic” with $2.2428 billion at the worldwide box office. Now, “The Way of Water” trails only “Avatar” ($2.92 billion) and “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.7 billion) on all-time box office charts. Cameron, the sole filmmaker with three movies to gross $2 billion or more, has directed the first, third and fourth biggest releases ever. Like the original “Avatar,” the follow-up’s success is attributed to its generation-spanning appeal as well as the incentive to watch the film in premium and 3D formats. On Imax screens, the movie has crossed $250 million. That’s more coinage than many films manage to earn in their entire theatrical runs.

It’s that time of year again already, when the stars are out in force to reward the best and brightest film talent at the British Academy Film and Television Awards. The annual celebration of all things film, comes hot on the heels of the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards and is one of the last glitzy ceremonies to see the Hollywood A-list before the season draws to a close with The Oscars on March 12th.

Paramount Global’s CFO said the company will take a $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion hit in the current first quarter mostly on content as it restructures its streaming business, absorbing Showtime into Paramount+.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish had a happy Valentine’s Day, swashbuckling to a new global milestone. The spinoff sequel crossed $400M with Tuesday’s numbers bringing the worldwide kitty to $401.5M. The split is $160.1M domestic and $241.4M at the international box office. 

K.J. Yossman “Avatar 2: The Way of Water” star Jamie Flatters looks unrecognizable in stills from his upcoming indie feature “Black Dog,” revealed here exclusively by Variety. Shedding his blue CG ensemble, Flatters, who plays Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington’s eldest Na’avi son in James Cameron’s billion-dollar smash, reverts to type in “Black Dog” as a London teenager taking a road trip up North. Flatters co-wrote the British indie feature with his friend George Jaques (“The Serpent Queen”), who will also direct. “Black Dog” represents both Flatters and Jaques’ feature screenwriting debut.

The tentpole drought, created by the pandemic’s post-production logjam, is officially over this weekend as Disney and Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opens the flood gates on what is a consisted flow of event movies from this Friday until early September.