Los Angeles, California – Avatar: Fire and Ash showed no signs of slowing down, topping the North American box office for the fifth consecutive week over the long holiday weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday.
The third installment in director James Cameron’s blockbuster fantasy series took in another $17.2 million from Friday to Monday, when Americans mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
That put its US and Canadian haul at $367.4 million, and its worldwide total at more than $1.3 billion, according to Exhibitor Relations.
Fire and Ash stars Zoe Saldaña 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.
Hit TV show Heated Rivalry sparks emotional response from gay hockey community
It is the fourth Cameron film to pass the $1 billion mark, along with the first two Avatar films and Titanic.
Debuting in second place with a disappointing $15 million was 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the fourth installment in the zombie horror series, which comes less than a year after the last film.
“Returning after 7 months is quick – it’s too quick, and it’s hurting the numbers,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
Disney’s feel-good animated film Zootopia 2 showed its staying power, moving up to third place at $12 million over the four-day weekend.
In fourth place at $10.2 million was The Housemaid, an adaptation of Freida McFadden’s best-selling novel about a young woman who is hired by a wealthy couple with dark secrets. Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried star in the Lionsgate release.
Marty Supreme, starring Oscars frontrunner Timothée Chalamet as a conniving 1950s table tennis player with big dreams, finished in fifth place at $6.7 million.
