This picture launched by twentieth Century Studios reveals Jake Sully, portrayed by Sam Worthington, in “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

AP

disguise caption

toggle caption

AP

This picture launched by twentieth Century Studios reveals Jake Sully, portrayed by Sam Worthington, in “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

AP

NEW YORK — James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water led ticket gross sales in film theaters for the sixth straight weekend, making it the primary movie to have such a sustained reign atop the field workplace since 2009’s Avatar.

The Walt Disney Co.’s The Way of Water added $19.7 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend, in response to studio estimates Sunday. Its international complete has now surpassed $2 billion, placing it sixth all-time and simply forward of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Domestically, The Way of Water is as much as $598 million. Continued strong worldwide gross sales ($56.3 million for the weekend) has helped push the Avatar sequel to $2.024 billion worldwide.

A yr in the past, Spider-Man: No Way Home additionally topped the field workplace for six weekends, however did it over the course of seven weeks. You have to return to Cameron’s authentic Avatar to discover a film that stayed No. 1 for such a protracted span. (Avatar in the end topped out at seven weeks.) Before that, the one movie prior to now 25 years to handle the feat was one other Cameron movie; “Titanic” (1997) went undefeated for 15 weeks.

The Way of Water has now reached a goal that Cameron himself set for the very costly sequel. Ahead of its launch, Cameron mentioned changing into “the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history” was “your break even.”

The box-office domination for The Way of Water has been aided, partially, by a dearth of formidable challengers. The solely new huge launch from a significant studio on the weekend was the thriller Missing, from Sony’s Screen Gems and Stage 6 Films. A low-budget sequel to 2018’s Searching, starring Storm Reid as a teen looking for her lacking mom, Missing performs out throughout pc screens. The movie, budgeted at $7 million, debuted with $9.3 million.

January is usually a sluggish interval in theaters, however a handful of strong-performing holdovers have helped prop up gross sales.

Though it did not open massively in December, Universal Pictures’ Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has had lengthy legs as one of many solely household choices in theaters during the last month. In its fifth week, it got here in second place with $11.5 million domestically and $17.8 million abroad. The “Puss in Boots” sequel has grossed $297.5 million globally.

The creepy doll horror hit M3gan, additionally from Universal, has likewise continued to drag in moviegoers. It notched $9.8 million in its third week, bringing its home haul to $73.3 million.

And whereas the recognition of horror titles in theaters is nothing new, Sony Pictures’ A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks, has flourished in a market that is been making an attempt for adult-oriented dramas. The movie, a remake of the Swedish movie A Man Called Ove, a few retired man whose suicide plans are regularly foiled by his neighbors, made $9 million in its second week of huge launch. It’s taken in $35.3 million domestically by means of Sunday.

Estimated ticket gross sales for Friday by means of Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, in response to Comscore. Final home figures might be launched Monday.

1. Avatar: The Way of Water, $19.7 million.

2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, $11.5 million.

3. M3gan, $9.8 million

4. Missing, $9.3 million.

5. A Man Called Otto, $9 million.

6. Plane, $5.3 million.

7. House Party, $1.8 million.

8. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime The Movie, $1.5 million.

9. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, $1.4 million.

10. The Whale, $1.3 million.