‘Avatar’ Crosses $850 Million Globally As ‘Puss In Boots’ Domestic Debut Is Battered By Brutal Weather

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, a hybrid film that would likely qualify for the Academy’s animation categories, has now grossed $855.4 million at the global box office.

Over the holiday weekend, The Way of Water pulled in $168.6 million at the international box office, dropping only 42% in its second week despite a massive decline in China, where it fell 55% as Covid continues to slow things down there. It’s also worth pointing out that many major markets see large-scale cinema closures over the holiday weekend, which would have had an impact on the film’s performance as well.

Despite brutal weather across much of North America, the film generated another $56 million (estimated) in ticket sales domestically, bringing its global weekend box office to $224.6 million. Avatar’s $855.4 million global cume puts the film in third place at the 2022 box office and is the fifth-best total since the pandemic.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which did get a limited one-weekend release back at Thanksgiving in some U.S. markets, had its full wide release over the holiday session and made an estimated $11.4 million on the weekend. While not terrible under the circumstances, it feels like a letdown when compared to the recent Holiday release of Strange World ($12.2 million opening) – a historic flop for Disney – and Dreamworks’ own The Bad Guys, which opened on April 22 of this year with $24 million.

Having already been available in 24 international territories since the second week of December (some as early as December 7), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish added 28 more for the holiday weekend to gross $16.5 million abroad. That’s a more favorable number than its domestic haul, especially considering the terrible state of the Chinese box office, where the film only managed $358K in the face of Covid complications.

Puss in Boots’ total global take now sits at $50.8 million, with several key markets set to open the film just after the new year, including South Korea and Brazil.

Swinging back to Strange World, Disney’s latest accumulated just $430,000 from 1,390 markets over the holiday term, after the film made its way to Disney+ following a brutal theatrical run that has stalled at just over $35.6 million.

Right now, Strange World sits 40th on the 2022 North American box office list, coincidentally between two other animated features in Crunchyroll’s Dragon Ball Hero: Super Hero ($38.1 million) and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 ($34.5 million). It’s dwarfed by Disney’s other 2022 major animated theatrical release Lightyear ($118.3 million) and is only slightly ahead of The Bob’s Burgers Movie ($31.9 million), also distributed by Disney.

Globally, Strange World sits at $65.3 million and doesn’t look likely to move much, as it only grossed 1.5 million at international theaters over the weekend.