After nearly two months of uninterrupted glory, this may be the weekend that “Avatar: The Way of Water” gets bumped from No. 1 on box office charts.
That’s because M. Night Shyamalan’s newest thriller “Knock at the Cabin” is poised to open to $15 million to $20 million, which looks to be enough to claim the top spot from “Avatar 2.”
“The Way of Water,” which has towered above the competition for seven consecutive weeks, is estimated to bring in roughly $11 million during its eighth weekend of release. So far, the blockbuster sequel has generated $620 million in North America and $2.117 billion globally to stand as the fourth-highest grossing movie in history. “Avatar 2” will compete for second place with Paramount’s new comedy “80 For Brady,” which hopes to touch down with $10 million or more from 3,800 locations.
For “Knock at the Cabin,” a debut in the mid-teens ranks on the lower end compared to past Shyamalan films like “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable.” His latest mind-bender was 2021’s “Old,” which opened to $16.8 million as the omicron variant of COVID was surging. After notching the lowest start of the filmmaker’s career, ticket sales for “Old” eventually climbed to $48 million domestically and $90 million globally. However, Shyamalan takes the unusual step of self-financing his movies while keeping budgets low, so they don’t require a ton of coinage to turn a profit. “Knock at the Cabin” cost $20 million to produce.
via Variety
