M3GAN grossed $11.71M (including previews) at the US box office yesterday, taking first place.
On opening day The Black Phone had grossed $10.2M, Scream 5 $13.3M.
Gerard Johnstone ‘s film had grossed $2.75M from Thursday previews, which started at 5pm, up 38% on Smile which had grossed $2M from screenings starting at 7pm, better than Candyman $1.9M, lower than The Black Phone $3M and to Scream 5 ($3.3M January 2021).
M3GAN , made for just $12M, earned a B from CinemaScore, a good grade for a horror film, and is estimated to have a weekend gross of $26-$30M, the best debut for an original work in the last five months. We recall that in August Bullet Train had opened with $30M.
62% of the audience is made up of young people aged between 18-34, 28% over 25. 20% of the sample saw the film with 2 or 4 friends. 38% of viewers were Caucasian, 27% Hispanic or Latino, 21% Black, and 7% Asian.
M3GAN is the first film to gross over $20M in the first weekend of January, since 2018’s Insidious ($29.6M); first PG-13 horror to have a weekend over $20M since A Quiet Place Part II (released on Memorial Day 2021, grossed $47.5M). Scream , released in January 2022 with an R rating, had grossed $30M.
Top 10, January 5-7, 2023 (estimates):
1. M3GAN : 3,509 theaters, Thu: $2.75M, Fri: $11.7M (+previews) (Uni/Blum) Sept1
2. Avatar: Waterway : 4,340 theaters, Fri: $11.4M, Total: $483.20M (Dis /20th) Sept4
3. Puss in Boots 2 : 3,919 theaters, Fri: $3.34M (Uni), Total: $77.93M Sept3
4. A Man Called Eight : 637 theaters, Fri: $1.55M (+previews), Total: $1.64M (Sony) Sept1
5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever : 2,255 Theaters, Fri: $968K, Total: $443.01M (Dis) Sept9
6. Whitney: A Voice That Became Legend : 3,184 Theaters, Fri: $700K, Total: $17,999 M (Sony) Sept3
7. Babylon: 2,381 Theaters, Fri: $430K, Total: $12.52M (Par) Sept3
8. The Whale : 835 Theaters, Fri: $423K, Total: $7.46M (A24) Sept5
9. The Menu : Fri: $500K (-40 %), (Sea) Sept8
10. Violent Night : Fri: $210k, (Uni) Sept6
Avatar: The Way of Water
It drops to second place with $11,406M, bringing the total to $483,195M. Thanks to all the premium screens (Imax and PLF) it’s still in, it’s going to win the weekend. He expects weekend box office picks to be in the $38M-$43M range, which should push him over $500M in North America.
In Spain it grossed €1.37M (0% compared to last Friday) for a total of €32.76M, the projection for the weekend is €3.7M (+23% compared to the previous weekend) and a total until Sunday of €35.1M.
In Japan, the film is expected to finish the weekend in third place, despite competition from the digest film Detective Conan Ai Habara’s Story ~Jet-Black Mystery Train~ . Composed of four episodes of the anime (701-704, contains some key scenes of Ai Haibara taken from other episodes and some new scenes, in preparation for the new movie that will debut in April, ed.)
1 THE FIRST SLAM DUNK $1.12M/$54.32M (+11%)
2 Suzume $800k/$84.5M (+6%)
3 Avatar: Road to Water $630k/$21.6M (-5%)
4 Detective Conan Ai Habara’s Story ~Jet-Black Mystery Train~ $500K/$1M
5 Dr.Coto’s Clinic $360K/$13.6M
11 One Piece Film: Red $110K/$138.73M/¥19.03B
In South Korea Avatar 2 grossed $2.7M in its fourth Saturday from 1452, -51% from last week, the total rising to $83.2M.
China Box Office January 7, 2023:
1. Avatar: Water Street￥47M / $6.9M, Tot: ￥1264.4M / $184.9M
2. Better Man￥15.3M / $2.2M, Tot: ￥184.6M / $27M
3. Someday or One Day￥12.3 M / $1.8M, Tot: ￥309.4M / $45.2M
4. Puss in Boots 2￥2.3M / $336k, Tot: ￥17.6M / $2.6M
5. Dragon Ball Super – Super Hero￥1.9M / $275k , Total: ￥4.5M / $652k