By Ben Miller
In a refreshing change of pace, the long holiday weekend box office was full of good news! Pretty much every film was up following that storm-stifling Christmas weekend. Nothing new debuted in wide release, so Avatar: The Way of Water was able to actually increase from the week before. James Cameron's movies typically have remarkable legs. Its $67.4 million haul was good enough to place it as the third best third weekend of all-time, behind the film's predecessor and The Force Awakens. Very good company to be in, box office-wise. But it wasn't just Avatar. Of the top 16 films at the box office, 13 increased from the week before!
| Weekend Box Office (actuals) Dec 30th-January 2nd 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (OVER 800 SCREENS) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER |
 THE WHALE |
| 1 ★ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER $67.4 (cum. $425.5) 4202 screens |
1 🔺 THE WHALE $1.3 (cum. $5.8) 623 screens |
| 2 PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH $16.8 (cum. $61.2) 4121 screens |
2 EMPIRE OF LIGHT $118k (cum. $953k) 300 screens |
| 3 BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER $5.1 (cum. $438.2) 2310 screens |
3 ★ THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN $67k (cum. $9.0) 75 screens |
| 4 WHITNEY HOUSTON: I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY $3.9 (cum. $14.5) 3625 screnes |
4 ★ EO $61k (cum. $444k) 44 screens |
|
5 BABYLON $2.6 (cum. $10) 3351 screens |
5 I HEARD THE BELLS $60k (cum. $5.6) 63 screens |
|
6 VIOLENT NIGHT $2.1 (cum. $47.5) 2563 screens |
6 🔺 A MAN CALLED OTTO $58k *NEW* 4 screens |
 THE MENU |
 A MAN CALLED OTTO |
|
7 ★ THE MENU $1.1 (cum. $36.1) 860 screens |
7 ★ TÁR $47k (cum. $5.6) 45 screens |
|
8 ★ THE FABELMANS $1.0 (cum. $12.1) 1149 screens |
8 ★ WOMEN TALKING $40k (cum. $151k) 8 screens |
|
9 STRANGE WORLD $501k (cum. $36.9) 1240 screens |
9 BROKER $28k (cum. $54k) 4 screens |
|
Only nine films are in wide release (>800 screens) |
10 ★ CORSAGE $26k (cum. $77k) 3 screens |
The only new platform release was the Tom Hanks-starring A Man Called Otto. Unsurprisingly, it made a whopping $14.5k per screen; second best for the week behind Avatar. The film expands to wide release in two weeks. Meanwhile, don't look now but the middling reviews for Darren Aronofsky's The Whale aren't having much impact on its box office. The film has made solid money despite never being in more than 700 theaters and keeps doing steady business. The Brendan Fraser comback vehicle has already outgrossed fellow platform release Oscar-contenders TAR, Decision to Leave, and Triangle of Sadness. Maybe we're underestimating its chances?
Next week -- Speaking of Oscar-hopefuls, Sarah Polley's Women Talking gets a wide release alongside future horror camp classic M3GAN. Neither are expected to make a big dent, so The Way of Water should continue its reign.
What did you see this weekend? I've been deep in the groove of knocking out Oscar blindspots, so I watched Mighty Aphrodite, A Single Man, Lillies of the Field, Nine, The Last Station, and The Miracle Worker. I was also able to catch Glass Onion for a second time, which was even better upon rewatch.