https://preview.redd.it/f6sa6je8eu8g1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=62d301ed6615f094503ad47ce7fc3250f2a37aaf

It was a very busy weekend at the movies. Avatar: Fire and Ash easily took #1, although it is clear that the franchise has a ceiling when it comes to opening weekends. The Housemaid also posted a solid debut, while The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants didn't quite impress. But perhaps the biggest surprise was Angel Studios' David, which posted the studio's biggest ever debut. And in more positive news, A24's Marty Supreme had an incredible start in 6 theaters before its wide release on Christmas.

The Top 10 earned a combined $173.4 million this weekend. That's up 23.9% from last year, when Sonic the Hedgehog 3 debuted at #1.

Debuting atop, 20th Century Studios' Avatar: Fire and Ash earned $89 million in 3,800 theaters. This is below The Way of Water ($134.1 million), and above the original film ($77 million). Although given inflation and its high ticket prices, Fire and Ash sold less tickets than both films. 53% of the film's gross came from 3D, and IMAX represented 15%.

This is not a bad debut, it only shows that the franchise has a ceiling when it comes to opening weekends in December. But still, how could it open $35 million below The Way of Water?

For starters, The Way of Water had a novelty factor: it was the first Avatar film in 13 years. It didn't play like a normal sequel, but as a legacy sequel. As a point of reference, Jurassic World was released 14 years after Jurassic Park III, and it played the legacy angle. So Fire and Ash lacked that nostalgia angle that made people curious over returning to Pandora.

Another thing is that the marketing didn't really offer much new. Yes, the point of the film is introducing the Ash people, but barring some slight differences, the film didn't really push the boundaries of fire in the same way Way of Water pushed water. It felt like just another Avatar film, without much else. Not a detriment; by this point, you're already in or out of the franchise as you know what you're gonna get. Although its real detriment was that it lacked the same positive response as the previous films; it's currently sitting at a middling 66% on RT, below both films and becoming Cameron's lowest rated film outside Piranha 2.

According to 20th Century Studios, 60% of the audience was male, and 60% was in the 18-34 demographic. But it seems the film reasonated more with the audience; they gave it a strong "A" on CinemaScore, exactly the same as the prior films. It should be reiterated that a film like Avatar does not need a high debut, it's all about the holiday legs. So with very weak competition through the holidays and January, this is a film that will hold well for so many weeks. Although it's clear right now that it will close below The Way of Water ($688 million).

In second place, there's this week's surprise. Angel Studios' David debuted with a pretty good $22 million in 3,118 theaters. That's the studio's best ever debut, above Sound of Freedom ($19.6 million).

While Angel Studios has had a very miss rate with its recent releases, they've been pushing David harder than any other release they had. Releasing a Biblical tale just as Christmas is about to start was a smart choice. With an "A" on CinemaScore, this should hold well for the next weeks.

In third place, Lionsgate's The Housemaid debuted with a pretty solid $19 million in 3,015 theaters. That's obviously nowhere close to what It Ends with Us ($50 million), another popular adaptation, opened with, but at least it was better than Regretting You ($13.6 million).

After some rough months with very few successes, Lionsgate did a great job in prioritizing The Housemaid and successfully translating the novel's popularity to the big screen. All the trailers did a great job in building the mystery and intrigue, pretty much keeping the same tone as the novel. Good reviews (75% on RT) also helped it.

According to Lionsgate, 70% of the audience was female, and 63% was in the 18-34 demographic. They gave it a "B+" on CinemaScore, which is fine for a film like this. Given the Christmas corridor will result in great legs, there's a good chance it will hit $100 million domestically.

In fourth place, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants debuted with $15.6 million in 3,557 theaters. This number is below the 2004 film ($32 million) and the 2015 sequel ($55.3 million), by quite a margin.

The SpongeBob brand is clearly popular, given that it has managed to stay relevant for 26 years. But perhaps the reason why Search for SquarePants opened too low is that brand is past its prime. It's definitely popular, just not as high as it was years ago. The amount of bad seasons are a huge factor, but the spin-off projects sent so streaming only helped dilute the brand a little bit. So are parents really interested in taking their kids to a SpongeBob movie in theaters when they already have a lot of content on streaming and TV? The surprising performance of David certainly didn't help.

According to Paramount, 53% of the audience was male. It's a kids movie, but its biggest demographic was 18-34, which represented 53% of its audience. Clearly, SpongeBob still attracts Gen Z. In some good news, critics liked the film (86% on RT) and audiences agreed; they gave it a pretty good "A–" on CinemaScore, the best in the franchise. Even with a low debut, it's all about the holiday legs and this should hold well, considering there won't be more animated competition till Goat in February.

After leading the box office last week, Zootopia 2 dropped to fifth place with $14.8 million. But its 43% drop is very solid, and it's also higher than Moana 2's fourth weekend. The film has made $283.1 million, and it's set to enjoy some great legs for Christmas.

With more strong competition, Five Nights at Freddy's 2 continued its collapse. This time, it dropped another 61%, earning $7.6 million this weekend. The film has earned $109.3 million domestically, and even though the holidays should help with legs, it's unlikely to make it much further than $130 million. Especially when it releases on digital tomorrow.

After its poor drops over the past weeks, Wicked: For Good had its best drop yet. It eased 43%, adding $4.8 million. The film's domestic total stands at $321 million.

In eighth place, Dhurandhar is still holding well on its third weekend. It dropped just 28%, for a $2.5 million weekend. That takes its domestic total to $12.4 million.

In ninth place, Focus Features' Hamnet eased 36%, for a $918,520 weekend. The film has amassed $8.8 million so far.

A24's Marty Supreme debuted in 6 theaters ahead of its wide release on Christmas, and it posted some incredible numbers, enough to crack the Top 10. The film debuted with $875,000 this weekend. That translates to an extraordinary $145,833 per-theater average. This is not only the best PTA of the year, but it's also the best ever in A24's history and the largest since La La Land ($176,220). Compared to every other release, it's the 15th best PTA ever.

Of course, a film playing incredibly well in limited release does not guarantee that it will perform well in wide release. The Master posted an incredible $147,262 per-theater average and it tapped out with just $16.3 million, or Steve Jobs tapping out with $17.7 million despite a strong $130,380 per-theater average. But it's still an encouraging sign, especially when it was reported that many screenings were sold out. The real test comes on Thursday, when it finally debuts in wide release. Given it's A24's most expensive film ($60-$70 million), expectations are high.

After its horrible debut last week, Ella McCay pretty much vanished from theaters. It earned just $406,206, which represents a colossal 80% second weekend drop. One of the worst ever on record, and that translates to an abysmal $162 per-theater average. Through 10 days, the film has earned an abysmal $3.5 million, and it seems like it will struggle to hit $4 million by the end of its run.

In limited release, Searchlight's Is This Thing On? debuted with $135,833 in 6 theaters. That's a $22,639 per-theater average, which is fine, but nothing out of this world. The film will continue expanding before hitting wide release in January.

OVERSEAS

As expected, Avatar: Fire and Ash killed it outside America. It opened with a huge $258.1 million overseas, for a $347.3 million worldwide debut. The film's best market was China, where it opened with $57.6 million, a pretty great result, but not breaking out like Zootopia 2 did a few weeks ago. The best debuts were China ($57.6M), France ($21.4M), Germany ($18M), South Korea ($13.6M), the UK ($11.9M), Mexico ($10M), India ($9.2M), Australia ($8.2M), Italy ($7.9M), Spain ($7.1M), Brazil ($5.9M), and Indonesia ($5.6M).

A big debut, but it's below The Way of Water ($435 million). It was down across the board in pretty much every market. Again, the holiday legs is the real deal and that's what determines how high it will go. But considering the debut, there's a strong possibility that this will be the first Avatar film to miss $2 billion worldwide.

Even with Avatar, Zootopia 2 refused to go down. It still earned a great $76.7 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to a fantastic $1.276 billion in just 4 weeks. The best markets are China ($539.1M), France ($44M), Korea ($41.3M), Japan ($39.3M) and Mexico ($28.9M). In China, the film still posted a great hold, and it's about to break more stats; it'll try to reach $600 million on the market and also sell 100 million tickets in the country. No Hollywood title has reached 100 million tickets in a single country since Titanic. Given its strong hold and the holiday corridor, this will easily go above $1.5 billion worldwide.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 added $8 million overseas, taking its worldwide total to $202.7 million. The best markets are Mexico ($14M), the UK ($8.2M), Brazil ($6.3M), Australia ($5.4M) and Spain ($5.2M). In mid January, it reaches its final market, Japan.

FILMS THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK

• Sony/Crunchyroll's Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc has closed with a pretty great $43 million domestically and $174.7 million worldwide. No Demon Slayer numbers, but it wasn't expected to hit that. It's another sign of how big anime has gotten over the past years.

• Paramount's Regretting You has closed with a solid $90.4 million worldwide. It's nowhere close to what It Ends with Us made, but the novel simply lacked that popularity to get that high. It's a solid enough result, showing that Colleen Hoover's books are here to stay at the movies. For better or worse.

• Focus Features' Bugonia has closed with $38 million worldwide. Even though it was Yorgos Lanthimos' most expensive film at $55 million, it's barely his third highest grossing film. Not a great result, but if it gets some Oscar love, perhaps it can be all worth it.

• That's like slipping, man. Edgar Wright's The Running Man has closed with a poor $68.6 million worldwide, failing to recoup its $110 million budget and ranking as one of the year's biggest flops. Despite a hit novel, a charming lead and a director with his own fanbase, The Running Man was less than the sum of its parts and failed to attract casuals. To make matters worse; it made less money domestically than the 1987 film unadjusted. Ouch.

THIS WEEK

It's Christmas time, and there's three wide releases.

As mentioned, A24's Marty Supreme will expand into a wide release. We'll see if it can post some great numbers, it could go well with the fantastic reviews.

Sony is launching Anaconda, starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd. A meta-reboot of the franchise, it sees Black and Rudd playing two big fans of the 1997 film and trying to remake it, only to be chased by an anaconda. That's certainly… a choice to resurrect this franchise. Will this surprise?

Focus Features is also releasing the biopic Song Sung Blue, starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Mike and Claire Sardina, who performed as the Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning & Thunder. The film has attained a pretty good critical response so far (74% on RT), and Diamond's music remains highly popular, so maybe there could be some interest in this.

And on limited release, Searchlight is releasing The Testament of Ann Lee, starring Amanda Seyfried as Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shakers religious sect in the 18th century. But on top of that… this is a musical. The film has earned critical acclaim from its festival runs, currently sitting at a great 90% on RT. But it will need some Oscar buzz to hang in there.

ANNOUNCEMENT

As next week will be the holidays, Actuals will be delayed, so I'll just post the weekend estimates on Monday. As such, the post will be up much earlier.

If you're interested in following the box office, come join us in r/BoxOffice.