Not surprisingly, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water clung to first place on North American movie screens this weekend, pulling in an estimated $45 million, but an unexpectedly popular horror movie placed a strong second.
The Avatar sequel has now led the box office for four weeks, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday. The 20th Century sci-fi film has amassed domestic earnings of $516.8 million and $1.19 billion internationally, making it the seventh biggest movie in history.
But scary doll thriller M3GAN from Universal and Blumhouse—the title stands for Model 3 Generative Android —was also impressive, taking in a strong $30.2 million in its first weekend, far above analysts’ expectations.
M3GAN tells the story of a creepily humanoid robot designed—but evidently not that well—to be the perfect companion for a young orphan girl (Violet McGraw).
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Universal’s spin-off of the Shrek franchise, placed third. The family-oriented film took in $13.1 million for the Friday-through-Monday period, bringing its gross in North America to $87.7 million.
A new heart-warmer from Sony, A Man Called Otto, took in $4.2 million in its second week out to place fourth.
An adaptation of the novel A Man Called Ove by Swedish author Fredrik Backman, Otto stars Tom Hanks as a curmudgeonly retiree whose rough edges are gradually softened by encounters with relentlessly upbeat neighbors.
And in fifth was Disney’s superhero sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, at $3.4 million. That brings its domestic total to $445.4 million.