MLK Weekend Box Office: ‘Avatar 2’ & ‘M3GAN’ To Prevail Despite Onslaught Of Gerard Butler’s ‘Plane’; ‘House Party’ & ‘Otto’ Expansion

After bursting out of the gate in India and 100 other markets last Wednesday, Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan finished its five-day opening weekend with an astonishing $66.24M worldwide (including $25.5M from outside India). Along the way, it broke several records including setting the biggest opening weekend of all time for a Bollywood film in India, North America and the UAE, as well as the top start for any Indian title in the UK, Australia, Germany and more. (See a full rundown below).

While studios took advantage of expanding their Oscar nominated Best Pictures this weekend — it’s truly a post-apocalyptic, err, post-pandemic marketplace when it comes to reaping any huge box office afterglow from this year’s crop. And the irony is that there’s only one streaming title among the top 10 Best Picture bunch, that being Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front, OTT services never disclosing grosses.

You always hurt the ones you love, sang the Mills Brothers. Tell that to Gerard Butler, who is still feeling guilty over an incident with costar Hilary Swank on the set of their 2007 romcom, P.S. I Love You.

EXCLUSIVE: Add another wide release to the 2023 theatrical release calendar as Open Road has just dated the Gerard Butler action movie Kandahar for May 26, Memorial Day weekend.

Over the past month, the conversation around “Avatar: The Way of Water” has shifted from, “Will it make money?” to “How much money will it make?” James Cameron‘s much-anticipated — or much-derided, depending on where you sit in the contemporary culture wars — was always expected to make money, but everyone has been shocked at its impact at the global box office. Once it became clear that the movie was going to outperform even its most ambitious expectations, the only question became whether this movie could possibly topple the original “Avatar.” And while that remains an open question, in at least one regard, Cameron’s sequel has already proven itself ahead of the pace.

Over the past month, the conversation around “Avatar: The Way of Water” has shifted from, “Will it make money?” to “How much money will it make?” James Cameron‘s much-anticipated — or much-derided, depending on where you sit in the contemporary culture wars — was always expected to make money, but everyone has been shocked at its impact at the global box office. Once it became clear that the movie was going to outperform even its most ambitious expectations, the only question became whether this movie could possibly topple the original “Avatar.” And while that remains an open question, in at least one regard, Cameron’s sequel has already proven itself ahead of the pace.

Nominations for the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards have been unveiled. Scroll down for the full list.

You can imagine the committee meetings devoted to finding just the right title for primo action star Gerard Butler’s latest in which he plays an airline pilot encountering lightning strikes that force him to crash land on a rebels-infested remote island in the Philippines. As it criss crosses the airline disaster genre and frightening jungle thriller, why not just tell the public what it really is. While it could be called Terror Island, or maybe Pirates Jungle, or Flight To The Death, the producers came up with the inspired plain Plane. That works well enough for anyone expecting Airport meets The High And The Mighty, but really it is just the first half that fits snugly into that category, nail biting as it is.

It is a blockbuster morning as far as the Producers Guild of America is concerned as it revealed film and TV nominations Thursday for its 34th annual PGA Awards.

Broadway box office took the expected drop last week, declining nearly 30% (to $37,394,931) from the previous week’s holiday-pumped $52M figure. Attendance for the 32 shows was down about 12% (to 275,834), but remained at a solid 92% of total capacity.

EXCLUSIVE: James Wan has been labeled by fans for being responsible for killer doll movies, specifically his Conjuring franchise spinoff, Annabelle.

Sony’s Tom Hanks-starrer A Man Called Otto banked $4.2 million in a lively second frame as it moved to 637 locations nationwide from four in NY and LA. Strong word of mouth propelled moviegoers into seats with particular strength in the heartland and momentum looks good as the adult drama/comedy heads into next week’s wide expansion for the holiday weekend. It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day next Monday.   

Nowadays, when you see Gerard Butler’s name attached to something, you should probably wonder to yourself, “Who is he fighting? What crazy ludicrous situation does his character find himself in? And what’s the silly name of his character?” Each and every Butler film offers up a hilarious answer to those questions, and the boringly titled “Plane” is no different.

Big holiday ticket prices, bonus performances and large audiences spurred a hefty surge of nearly 50% in Broadway box office last week (ending Jan. 1) over the previous week, with productions including Funny Girl, MJ, Six, Beetlejuice and & Juliet among the shows smashing house records.