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Third ‘Avatar’ film stays atop North American box office rankings

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” retained the top spot at the North American box office after it debuted the week before, reeling in $64 million during the weekend after Christmas, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The third installment in director James Cameron’s blockbuster series stars Zoe Saldana as Na’vi warrior Neytiri and Sam Worthington as ex-Marine Jake Sully, who must battle a new foe threatening their family’s life on the planet Pandora.

The film grossed $217.6 million at the box office worldwide during the current weekend, according to estimates.

“Zootopia 2,” Disney’s feel-good animated film and an Oscar contender, rose to number 2 from 5 in the rankings, bringing in $20 million, according to weekend estimates.

“Marty Supreme,” a period sports drama starring Timothee Chalamet, soared to third place in the rankings from the number 10 spot the previous week, bringing in $17.5 million, weekend estimates showed.

“This is an excellent opening for a sports drama,” according to David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

“Critics’ reviews are sensational, with an excellent audience score (a B+ CinemaScore). The film is going to get a lift from holiday moviegoing this week — all of the releases are going to benefit now,” he said.

Dropping one notch to fourth place was “The Housemaid,” a thriller from Lionsgate films starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, which earned $15.4 million, according to estimates.

“Anaconda,” the new comedy action movie starring Paul Rudd and Jack Black, placed fifth in the rankings after making its debut. Distributed by Sony, the film brought in $14.5 million, according to estimates.

“This is a solid opening for a horror remake. The three-day figure is roughly average for the genre, and it’s a bit better start than the previous ‘Anaconda’ opening in 2004,” Gross said.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

“David” ($12.6 million)

“The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” ($11.2 million)

“Song Sung Blue” ($7.6 million)

“Wicked: For Good” ($5.2 million)

“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” ($4.4 million) (JapanToday)

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‘Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle’ breaks another record, tops domestic box office for second weekend

Hollywood has long viewed anime as a modest but steady genre at the domestic box office. But the unexpected success of “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” has forced the industry to rethink the potential of Japanese animation to draw big audiences to theaters.

“Infinity Castle,” distributed by Sony-owned Crunchyroll, fell 76% from its opening weekend, but still finished No. 1 at the box office, raking in $17.3 million Friday through Sunday and bringing its total earnings to $104.73 million after nine days in US theaters.

An anime film vastly outperforming expectations has been a long time coming. There have been more than 100 anime movies released since 2000, yet none have reached $50 million at the domestic box office. A poll released in January 2024 from Vox Media and Polygon showed that 42% of Gen Z say they watch anime weekly.

In the case of “Infinity Castle,” it has helped that the latest installment from the popular “Demon Slayer” franchise has drawn acclaim from critics, receiving a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 69 rating on Metacritic.

“I think studio heads and movie theaters should be very happy that, if this becomes a trend rather than an anomaly, it will add another category of film to the quiver of potential content to put on the big screen,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.

The sustained attention “Infinity Castle” has received from Gen Z and Gen Alpha has been a key driver for not just the movie but for the anime genre, and provided Sony and Crunchyroll with the surprise hit of September.

Dergarabedian said it’s “somewhat unprecedented” for an international anime movie to perform so well domestically.

Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of analytics firm Box Office Theory, said the movie’s buzz coming from younger moviegoers “can be a double-edged sword” because the interest can die off quickly or it can gain momentum by adding new audiences, reminiscent of the expectation-shattering run that Warner Bros. Pictures’ “A Minecraft Movie” had this year when it pulled in $162.75 million in its opening weekend, and finished with $424 million.

Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.

The record-breaking opening weekend of “Infinity Castle” may have broadened the realm of anime to US moviegoers who otherwise wouldn’t have considered watching a “Demon Slayer” movie, said Robbins.

“That can really inspire people to go and check out something that they might not have heard of otherwise,” Robbins said, adding that the movie brought out “virtually all corners of the anime world,” including viewers with a passing interest.

On Friday, “Infinity Castle” became the highest-earning anime movie domestically, surpassing another record previously held by Warner Bros. 1999 hit, “Pokémon: The First Movie — Mewtwo Strikes Back” ($85 million). (CNN)