“Avatar: The Way of Water” Keeps Swimming With Sixth Consecutive Weekend at No. 1

It’s the sixth weekend of release for “Avatar: The Way of Water” and James Cameron’s science-fiction sequel is still floating atop the box office, ahead of new release “Missing.”

In 3,790 theaters “The Way of Water” It added $4.6 Million to its haul Friday, making it total $582 million. That roughly marks a 35% drop from its previous outing — another strong hold for the holiday release as it continues to keep momentum up through January.

The “Avatar” The sequel has earned more than its predecessor in 2009, but it is still showing heavier declines. Domestic total for the sequel should be on the edge of $600 million by Monday, putting the film just a stone’s throw away from taking down “Incredibles 2” ($608 Million) as the 12th highest-grossing film of all time in North America.

Globally “The Way of Water” Officially surpassed “Spider-Man: No Way Home” As the sixth-highest grossing film, it earned $1.928 million worldwide. The film’s next milestone will be crossing the $2 billion mark, which has only been achieved by five films, ever: “Avatar” ($2.9 billion), “Avengers: Endgame” ($2.79 billion), “Titanic” ($2.2 billion), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($2.069 billion). “Avengers: Infinity War” ($2.04 billion).

Stage 6 Films and Screen Gems’ “Missing” The only major studio to release a wide release this weekend was the thriller. Sony Pictures distributed the thriller and it earned $3.4 million its first day. It is now aiming to finish third or fourth on domestic charts. It’s in a solid place considering its thrifty $7 million production budget.

A follow-up to 2018’s “Searching,” the film follows a teenager (Storm Reid) looking for her mother (Nia Long); the film is told through the characters’ screen devices, poring over internet logs and text conversations. The picture is Will Merrick and Nick Johnson’s directorial debut.

Second place looks to go to Universal’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” Another fantastic week of hold was achieved, with a 14% decrease in sales. After an initial quiet opening, DreamWorks has seen a lot of success recently, despite not having any competition from family audiences. The production has not been shown in public, however. “Shrek” spinoff is already available to purchase digitally, that doesn’t seem to have slowed it down; the domestic total looks to reach $127 million by Monday.

Columbia’s “A Man Called Otto” It projects a $9 million weekend gross, a drop of less than 30% from its expansion over Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. That’s fantastic news for the Tom Hanks vehicle, which has become one of the rare adult-oriented dramas to find a substantial audience at the box office. By Monday, the domestic total should be at least $35 million.

Finally, Universal’s horror-comedy “M3GAN” The weekend’s budget is estimated to be $9 million, which would represent a 50% decrease in its previous run. Its domestic total will reach $70 million with the Blumhouse and Atomic Monster collaborations by the weekend’s end.