Even though a chilling bomb cyclone hurtled across the United States, audiences still found a way to make it out to the movies during Christmas and Christmas Eve, says The Hollywood Reporter. While Avatar: The Way of Water continued to bring in the big bucks, other films like Puss in Boots, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and the new Whitney Huston biopic underperformed. Likewise Babylon, Damien Chazelle’s star-studded ode to 1920’s Hollywood with Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Tobey Mcguire, and Olivia Wilde, hasn’t found its audience yet.
Avatar: The Way of Water has currently brought in just over $US250 ($347) million in the domestic box office and has just made over $US855 ($1,187) million globally. According to the Reporter, sources predict that by the end of Monday, December 26 the worldwide take will be over $US900 ($1,249) million total.
The Hollywood Reporter also relates some grim news for theatre going overall — Christmas weekend revenue was down “as much as 50% from 2019,” which was the last big pre-pandemic holiday, and is down 30% compared to last year. It’s not the best news, but there’s not much in theatres if you’re looking for a big-budget action flick and don’t want to see Avatar 2. The exception is Violent Night, the brutal rated-R film that stars David Harbour as a folkloric Santa with a violent past.
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