‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’ ‘Ant-Man 3’ Boost Disney to $1 Billion at Global Box Office in 2023

viewed here, shows that the number of movie screens in the U.S. and Canada declined by 5% between 2019 and 2022 from 44,283 to 42,063 screens. The Cinema Foundation says it is unclear how many of those screens can directly attribute their closure to financial strain brought by the pandemic or how many may be brought back by theater chains acquiring and reopening closed multiplexes.

Oscar nom afterglow for this year’s Best Pictures was largely felt in the home than it was at the box office with a majority of titles already available to be viewed on the couch, except for 20th Century Studios/Disney’s 3D title Avatar: The Water.

Angelique Jackson When “Creed III” punched its way to the top of the box office over the weekend with a massive $58.7 million domestic haul, it knocked out a host of records. Directed, produced by and starring Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed, the MGM movie notched a franchise-best opening and the biggest domestic opening for a sports movie. With an additional $41.1 million Internationally, the film has already totaled more than $100 million worldwide. “Creed III” is also expected to become MGM’s first non-“Bond” film to gross $100 million domestically since the hit 2019 animated movie “The Addams Family.” There were other impressive stats, including the film’s “A-“ CinemaScore and ticket buyers reported to be 63% male, with 55% between the ages of 18 and 34. The statistics also illustrated a racially diverse audience where 36% were Black, 28% were Latino, 23% were white, and 13% were Asian, according to PostTrak data. The film, which Jordan shot with Imax cameras, also posted an impressive turnout on premium large format screens, with a huge 38% of the box office coming from those ticket sales.

Paramount/Spyglass Media’s Scream VIis headed to a franchise-record opening of $50M+ worldwide from roughly 50 offshore territories including domestic.

Fandom’s “Oscars According to Fans” survey reports that “Avatar: The Way of Water” takes the Oscar for Best Picture over “Top Gun: Maverick” if it were up to fans.James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel was the favorite of 15 states — such as Washington, Oklahoma, Illinois, New York and Alabama — while Tom Cruise’s equally long-awaited sequel took second place as the top film in 13 states including California, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, North Carolina and Maine among others.“Elvis” came in third place for fan votes to win Best Picture. Austin Butler’s portrayal of Elvis was the fan favorite of 9 states including Arizona, Mew Mexico, Minnesota and more, with 36% of voters picking him to win the Oscar for the Best Actor.

The power of a wide theatrical release was realized this weekend by streamer Amazon in its pivot back to the big screen with MGM/United Artists Releasing’s Creed III. It easily minted the best opening ever for the Seattle-based parent, as well as for the Rocky franchise, with $58.6M domestic, $100.4M worldwide.

Refresh for latest…: MGM’s Creed III is enjoying a knockout opening weekend, punching up $100.4M globally. Of that, $41.8M is from 75 international box office markets. Domestically, the Michael B Jordan-directed movie opened to a franchise record and the best debut ever for a sports title.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The “Rocky” spinoff, which The Post said keeps audiences “under its spell right until the end,” marks the ninth installment in the franchise. The action flick, which is the directorial debut of its leading man Michael B.

projected to pull in $40 million its opening weekend. MGM is projecting $35 to $38 million, on par with “Creed II”s $35.5 million opening. The 2018 sequel brought $3.7 million from preview screenings that took place on a Tuesday night ahead of the extended Thanksgiving weekend in 2018.“Creed III” must take in more than $115 domestically and $214 million worldwide to beat its predecessor, while the first installment in the franchise made $109 million in the U.S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Already the highest grossing local film in its home market, courtroom drama, “A Guilty Conscience” has broken into Hong Kong’s all-time top ten box office ranking with a cumulative of HK$107 million ($13.7 million). Data from Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. shows the film achieving the feat after just 41 days in cinemas and coming within HK$1 million ($150,000) of overtaking “Top Gun: Maverick.” The data firm noted that the last time a Hong Kong film got this far was with fantasy-action-comedy “Kung Fu Hustle” in 2004. Since then, it has been overtaken by a fleet of Hollywood titles. Hong Hong’s current top ten is headed by “Avengers: Endgame” and includes six Marvel movies, the two “Avatar” titles and “Titanic.”

EXCLUSIVE: A24’s The Whale, whose Oscar-nominated star Brendan Fraser scooped the prize for Male Actor in a Leading Role at the SAG Awards on Sunday night, is enjoying a strong run globally, having crossed $30M worldwide in the latest frame. Now at $32.3M global and with more overseas markets to release, the drama counts $15.5M so far from the international box office; that’s a nearly 50/50 split with domestic — a terrific result for a low-budget indie. Its global box office is close to that of The Fabelmans.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” took a sizable hit in its sophomore outing at the box office. Ticket sales for the third Marvel movie starring Paul Rudd’s subatomic hero were down 69% from its $105 million debut, resulting in the biggest second-weekend drop in the franchise’s history. That fall has inspired plenty of debate among analysts and experts: Is the film’s performance a blip or an inflection point in Hollywood’s biggest property? The answer is likely somewhere in between, according to senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “As second weekend drops go, anything in the 70% realm is pretty significant,” says Dergarabedian. “But movies that open with over $100 million are generally front-loaded. In some cases, ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’ comes into play.”

Refresh for latest…: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office.

“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” in 2016.With a 10-day total of $164 million, “Quantumania” should have enough momentum to cross the $200 million mark at the domestic box office, but with such a steep drop it is now questionable whether the film will have enough fuel against stiff March blockbuster competition to even pass the unadjusted $622 million global box office total of the last “Ant-Man and the Wasp” back in 2018.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Universal’s horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear” blew past box office projections, earning an impressive $23 million from 3,534 North American theaters in its opening weekend. The blood-splattered animal adventure landed in second place on domestic charts behind Disney’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which all but collapsed in its sophomore outing. “Ant-Man 3” managed to remain in first place given its huge $106 million opening, but the comic book installment is suffering from negative word-of-mouth. It added $32.2 million from 4,345 venues in its second weekend of release, marking a brutal 69% decline from its debut. Now, “Quantumania” holds the ignominious distinction as the biggest week-to-week drop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including “Black Widow” (which plunged 67.8% while debuting simultaneously on Disney Plus) and “Eternals” (which fell 62% after equally bad reviews). Globally, the movie has generated $364 million, including $167 million domestically and $196 million internationally.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The comedy, which is directed by Elizabeth Banks, whom The Post said, “keeps the powder gags fresh throughout,” is loosely based on a true story of a black bear in Georgia that ate millions of dollars worth of lost cocaine. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” which was in first place last week, creeped to second with an $8.3 million-dollar take.The plummet in sales for the superhero flick, which cost around $200 million to make, marks the worst-ever second-week drop for a Marvel film, according to Deadline.Remaining in third was “Avatar: The Way of Water” with $1.1 million in sales.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is taking a greater toll on its box office than anticipated. The film grossed just $8.2 million on its second Friday — a colossal 82% drop from its $46.4 million opening day — and its weekend total is projected to drop 71% from $106 million last weekend to $30 million this weekend.

J. Kim Murphy The box office can be an institution of simple pleasures. Hollywood releases the story of a rampaging bear drugged out of its mind and — what do you know? — the people roll out. “Cocaine Bear” drew a solid $8.6 million opening day gross from 3,534 theaters, a figure that includes $2 million in previews on Thursday. That places the Universal release ahead of projections heading into the weekend, which had the gory comedy pegged at a debut between $15 million and $17 million. But a fun online marketing campaign and a killer premise have given the film a strong position, with a debut north of $21 million now in the cards. That would mark an auspicious kick-off for “Cocaine Bear,” which carries a production budget of $35 million. Reviews have been a bit all over the place; the film carries a 51% approval rating from top critics on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences are also a bit lukewarm, as the comedy landed a “B-” grade through research firm Cinema Score, though a middling grade is fairly standard for a genre release with a horror slant. But, at the end of the day, “Cocaine Bear” is titled “Cocaine Bear”; the straightforward premise is now a proven winner and audiences can only see the film to believe it.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” debuted in pole position at the U.K. and Ireland box office with £8.8 million ($10.6 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. In its third weekend, Universal’s “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” collected £3.1 million in second place for a total of £17.1 million. In third place, Warner Bros.’ “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” earned £888,435 in its second weekend for a total of £3.8 million. Disney blockbuster“Avatar: The Way Of Water” continued to chart with £531,213 in its 10th weekend in fourth place for a mighty total of £75.5 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” topped the box office chart in mainland China on its opening weekend, with a $19.4 million start. But the much-discussed arrival of the Marvel movie was weak compared its franchise predecessor. And its debut was not enough to reignite the China box office market. The film arrived in a fashion that was adequately signalled for marketing purposes. And it opened on a date that was coordinated with the North American and other international debuts. In the context of the Chinese market, the film also had the advantage of landing at a time when the big, Chinese-made, Lunar New Year titles were losing their power.