UPDATE: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has overtaken the filmmaker’s own Titanic at the international box office with an estimated $1.538B through Sunday. That makes it the No. 3 movie of all time abroad, behind the original Avatar and Avengers: Endgame.
Globally, The Way of Water reached $2,174.4M through the 8th weekend, putting Titanic in its sights on a worldwide basis. However, the big boat movie is getting a rerelease this coming week, so rankings will depend on what kind of numbers it generates as the two films likely play tag next session.
Way of Water is currently the No. 4 biggest movie of all time worldwide and added $27.9M overseas this frame for a 36% drop. It remains the No. 1 non-local title in several offshore markets, including France, Germany, Spain, Australia, Japan and Korea.
The Top 5 markets to date are China ($240.6M), France ($141.5M), Germany ($130.7M), Korea ($105.5M) and the UK ($88.2M).
3D and Premium formats continue to thrive. In IMAX, the global total is $247M, of which $170M comes from the international box office. The China IMAX cume is $52M, the second best ever in the market. Overall, Way of Water is IMAX’s biggest global first-run release of all time and the format’s top performing release ever in 47 countries.
In other milestone news, Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan continues to make history. Through Friday, it became the highest-grossing Bollywood movie ever worldwide excluding China. In the original Hindi language, it is the biggest ever when considering that Dangal’s $193M in China collections were from a dubbed version.
Through Saturday, Pathaan became the first original Hindi film to cross the 400 crore net mark in India and overtook Dangal with 401.4 crore net ($48.9M).
In total through Saturday, the Siddharth Anand-directed film which also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, has a running cume of $95.1M global including $36.7M from overseas markets.
The U.S. estimate through Saturday is $13.4M, edging Dangal. In the UK, Pathaan is the first Indian film to cross £3M. In IMAX, the global total is $3.3M, the third biggest Indian title ever in the format.
We’ll have a full Pathaan weekend rundown with Sunday numbers included tomorrow.
In China, where the Lunar New Year movies are still playing, The Wandering Earth II led the weekend and has now grossed $497M, according to Maoyan. The sequel has grossed $44.7M in IMAX to become the format’s fourth biggest title ever in the market. Zhang Yimou’s Full River Red remains the biggest grosser to debut during the holidays with a running cume of $589M.
Turning back to the studios, Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish had a great 31% drop this session, adding $17.1M in 80 markets for a $217.3M overseas cume and $368.6M worldwide. After a terrific stunt for parents and kids last weekend in London, Puss 2 finally debuted for UK audiences this weekend, landing No. 1 with $6.1M from 1,500 screens. It opened in line with How to Train Your Dragon 3, and on Saturday had almost half the share of box office of the Top 20 titles for the weekend.
Overall, Puss 2 is above Sing 2 and on par with Sing and HTTYD3 at the same point. The Top 5 markets are Mexico ($21.6M), France ($19.6M), Germany ($15.1M), Australia ($13.6M) and Brazil ($13.3M). In the latter, the sequel will become the No.1 DreamWorks title of all time on Monday.
Also from Universal, M Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin debuted in 60 offshore markets, ringing in $7M for a global start of $21.2M. The filmmaker did a European tour with stops in Rome, Paris, Madrid, London and Munich to promote his latest which bowed in line with his own The Visit and Old, as well as non-Shyamalan comp The Menu.
Shyamalan had the widest release of his career in the UK with 578 sites and 675 screens. The weekend grossed $1.23M, above Old and The Visit. Mexico scored $846K, in line with Old, double The Menu and above The Visit. The country has a national holiday on Monday which will boost Sunday and Monday figures. France reached a cume of $742K, in line with The Menu, and above Old. Spain grossed $649K across 354 screens, landing at No.2 above other weekend openers including The Banshees of Inisherin, Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom and BTS: Yet To Come To Cinemas. Australia opened to $578K at No.2 behind Avatar. The bow was almost double Old and above The Menu in an overall soft market due to the end of summer holidays.
Germany, Korea and Japan open in February, March and April, respectively.
Paramount’s Babylon had a new home in Korea this session, picking up $795K at 474 locations and opening No. 5 which is low for a Damien Chazelle-helmed pic. The overall weekend was $5.9M in 60 markets for a drop of 42%. The international cume to date now stands at $35.1M. France continues to lead play at $8.4M, followed by the UK ($4M), Italy ($2.4M), Australia ($2.3M) and Germany and Spain with $2M apiece. Japan, the final market to release, opens next week.
In other local news, Japanese animated comedy The First Slam Dunk is continuing its strong run in Korea as it nears. $20M. And in Japan, Toho’s Demon Slayer: Kietsu No Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village set a new IMAX record for February with $1M from 41 screens this debut session.
MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE
M3GAN (UNI): $4M intl weekend (75 markets); $71M intl cume/$158.6M global
A Man Called Otto (SNY): $3.8M intl weekend (45 markets); $30.4M intl cume/$53M global
Die Drei ??? – Erbe Des Drachen (SNY): $2.2M intl weekend (4 markets); $6.1M intl cume
The Fablemans (UNI/Amblin): $1.4M intl weekend (48 combined markets); $11.5M combined intl cume/$28.2M global