The first hit of 2023 has come from Universal/Blumhouse's campy killer doll horror film "M3GAN," which opened to $27 million on strong reviews from critics, and Disney/20th Century's "Avatar: No. 1 remains "The Way of Water." one and surpasses $500 million in North America.
“M3GAN” received a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics who praised the film for its self-aware dark humor and projected an opening weekend of $17-22 million from 3,509 locations. The film was produced on a budget of $12 million before marketing costs. With a B on CinemaScore and a 79% audience RT rating, audience metrics haven't been as strong as expected, but it's rare for a horror movie to have such high metrics.
After becoming the first film released on the first weekend of the year to open to over $20 million since "Insidious: Chapter 1," "M3GAN," the only horror film currently playing in theaters, now has a chance to compete with younger audiences. The Final Key" in 2018 After the worldwide success of fellow Blumhouse release "The Black Phone" ($164 million) and Paramount's "Smile" ($216.1 million) in 2022, this marks yet another victory for original low-budget horror.
Obviously, "M3GAN" still comes in second to "Avatar: The Way of Water," which is expected to bring its domestic total to $514 million in its fourth weekend and earn a hefty $42 million. The domestic run of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will have been surpassed by "Avatar 2" if the weekend total reaches $44 million. The Rise of Skywalker" between 2019 and 20.
"Avatar 2" is on track to surpass "Top Gun: The Last Stand"'s $718 million domestic and international total with legs as strong as the original 13 years ago. Maverick" became the sixth film in history to earn $2 billion worldwide, despite the fact that the film's release in China was sandblasted by COVID-19 outbreaks, which initially made it appear unlikely that it would do so. However, overseas revenues have remained historically high thanks to strong performances in a number of other important markets like India, South Korea, and France.
"Puss in Boots:" produced by Universal/DreamWorks Animation With $12.5 million in its third weekend, The Last Wish” comes in third place, giving the $90 million film a domestic total of $87 million. This movie won't make much money at the theater because it won't be as big as "Sing 2" ($402 million), but it will at least break even and make $100 million domestically while making money from post-theater streams like digital on-demand.
Apart from "M3GAN," Sony's "A Man Called Otto," a Tom Hanks-starring remake of the Oscar-nominated Swedish dramedy "A Man Called Ove" that opened in 637 theaters following a platform release last weekend, is the other new entry into the Top 5. Because it intends to expand the movie even further the following weekend, Sony projects that the movie will earn $3.6 million this weekend.
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