This weekend the Australian box office made $16.6 million, down -9% from last week’s $18.2 million.
In its fourth week, Avatar: The Way of Water continues to dominate the box office charts, grossing over $8 million this past weekend.
Directed by James Cameron, the film sees cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, and Stephen Lang reprising their roles from the original film, with Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis joining as new members.
The film reportedly cost $US350 million ($521 million) to make and has a long way to go to match the original film, which is the highest-grossing film in Australia with $115.7 million. Despite this, the film has surpassed The Lion King (2019) to become the sixth highest-grossing film of all time in Australia.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Harvey Guillén, Florence Pugh and Olivia Colman, has maintained its spot at second in its second week on screens. The animated film made $2.2 million across 374 screens across Australia this week, increasing by 5%.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile starring Javier Bardem, Constance Wu and Canadian singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes as the titular character, remained steady at third, grossing $1.4 million.
A Man Called Otto jumped from sixth place to fourth, increasing by 178% this past weekend. Starring Tom Hanks as the main character, the film is the second film adaptation of the 2012 novel A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody fell from #4 to #5, earning $786k across 351 screens across Australia.
The biopic musical drama about the late songstress stars Naomi Ackie in the titular role alongside Stanley Tucci as Houston’s record producer and friend Clive Davis.
Falling out of the top five this weekend was The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.
#1 Avatar: The Way of Water – $8.27 million
The highly-anticipated sequel to Avatar saw a -22% drop from last week. In its four weeks of release, the film has grossed $66.7 million to date and averaged $9,656 across 857 screens this past weekend.
#2 Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – $2.273 million
The star-studded Pixar film averaged $6,078 across 374 screens this past weekend and has grossed $9.15 million to date.
#3 Lyle, Lyle Crocodile – $1.443 million
Since its Boxing Day release, the family musical-comedy has made $6.4 million to date. This past weekend, the film grossed $3,565 across 405 screens.
#4 A Man Called Otto – $1.33 million
The comedy film averaged 4,080 across 328 screens this past weekend, grossing $2.9 million to date.
#5 Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody – $786,049
The musical biopic about the life and times of the late pop icon has grossed $3.76 million since its release. This past weekend, the film averaged $2,239 across 351 screens.