Despite a storm-dampened weekend, 'Avatar' stays atop North American box office

Pulling in an estimated $90 million, Avatar: The Way of Water has blown away the competition even as a massive storm kept millions at home over the four-day Christmas weekend, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said on Monday.

The James Cameron sci-fi sequel has now earned 20th Century $287.7 million domestically, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2022.

But while analysts said it had exceeded expectations on a storm-depressed weekend, three new releases produced far more modest returns.

Universal's family-oriented Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a computer-animated spin-off of the Shrek franchise, took in $17.5 million for the Friday-through-Monday period.

Comedy-drama Babylon, helmed by Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle, opened with a mere $5.3 million despite a cast including Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. Variety.com called that an "especially terrible start."

But David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research suggested that the over-the-top epic can expect a boost "if it picks up big awards nominations," as many expect.

Fifth place for the long, cold weekend went to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, at $5.3 million. Its domestic total is now $428 million.

Other films that made it to the top 10 were Violent Night ($4.3 million), The Whale ($1.5 million), The Menu ($1 million), The Fabelmans ($900,000) and Strange World ($675,000).

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