"Avatar: The Way of Water" claimed the top spot on the domestic box office charts for the seventh weekend in a row with an additional $15.7 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
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"Avatar 2's" first-place North American run has only been matched by the first "Avatar," and, in the past 25 years, bested by "Titanic" (which stayed in first place for 15 weeks). All three were directed by James Cameron.
Globally, "The Way of Water" has now grossed an estimated $2.1 billion, passing "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," to become the fourth-highest grossing film of all time.
Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks' family-oriented offering "Puss In Boots: The Last Wish," which made $10.6 million in its sixth weekend. The animated spinoff has earned over $140.8 million in North America and was recently made available to stream at home, too.
Many studios boasting best picture nominees also chose to capitalize on the buzz of Tuesday's Oscar nominations with sizable re-releases. "Everything Everywhere All At Once," which got a leading 11 nominations, came back to theaters in force playing on 1,400 screens where it earned another $1 million. The A24 release has made $71 million domestically to date. Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans," nominated for seven Oscars, also expanded to 1,962 screens in North America and took in an additional $760,000, bringing its domestic total to $16 million. And Sarah Polley's "Women Talking" also added a few hundred screens, earning $1 million over the weekend. It's made $2.4 million to date. The Oscar boosts could continue over the coming weeks, too — the show isn't until March 12.
Several of the highest profile releases of the weekend were both star-driven comedies that went straight to streaming: Netflix had "You People," with Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonah Hill, and Lauren London and Amazon Prime Video offered "Shotgun Wedding," with Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, and Jennifer Coolidge.
Seven weekends into "Avatar 2," theater owners are also likely looking for the next big blockbuster, which is still a ways off. "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" doesn't arrive in theaters until Feb. 17.
