Receipts: Storm Reid and Nia Long’s ‘Missing’ Debuts At Number 4, ‘Avatar 2’ Joins The $2 Billion Film Club

Domestic: Missing is the most successful newcomer at the box office this week—the thriller is a standalone sequel to 2018’s Searching. The unconventional techno-thriller is also in a screenlife genre format, in which a film’s entire story is shown on a computer, tablet, or smartphone screen. The film’s cast includes Storm Reid, Ken Leung, and Nia Long, and debuted at number four at the box office after its January 20 premiere. Missing made over $4 million between its Thursday night preview and first-day showings and grossed over $9.1 million in four days, surpassing the film’s $7 million budget.

After six weeks as the number one film at the box office, Avatar: The Way of Water becomes the second-fastest film to gross over $2 billion and is the highest-grossing film of 2022. The 192-minute-long film epic hit the $2 billion milestone on January 22. During its fifth weekend in theatres, the film grossed over $32.8 million domestically, dropping 28%. For its sixth domestic weekend of January 20, the film saw a drop of 39%, grossing slightly over $20.1 million. Overall, Way of Water film grossed $599.9 million domestically and over $1.4 billion internationally. The sequel has also become the highest-grossing Hollywood film in India, earning $45.1 million. Zoe Saldaña and  Guyanese-American actress Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder are among its ensemble cast.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish reclaims its second-place spot over the January 20 weekend at the weekend box office earning $11.8 million domestically. The Dreamworks Animation film had previously been pushed onto third place by the James Wan-produced thriller M3GAN. The animated adventure Shrek spin-off has grossed over $128.6 million domestically. The Last Wish has also proven popular overseas, grossing $170.9 million at the international box office. Since its release five weeks ago, the film has grossed $298.5 million worldwide, a success for a film made on a $90 million budget.

Meanwhile, the social media sensation M3GAN dropped to third place at the weekend box office on January 20, dropping 47% after only grossing $9.7 million on its third theatrical weekend. Overall, the film’s viral social media success has worked for the thriller grossing the film $125.4 million worldwide on a budget of $12 million.

Another January newcomer is the action-thriller Plane, made on a budget of $25 million and features Mike Colter and Yoson An in the main cast. Distributed by Lionsgate Films and theatrically released to over 3,000 theatres on January 13 debuted in fifth place on its opening weekend at the box office. Plane has grossed over $20 million domestically since its January 13 release.

Also released on January 13 is LeBron James’ comedy reboot/remake House Party. The film is directed by Calmatic in his feature directorial debut, and features Tosin Cole, Jacob Latimore, and Scott Mescudi (also known as Kid Cudi) in the cast. The Warner Brothers Pictures film serves as a reboot and remake of the original 1990s film. The film debuted at number six at the box office and grossed domestically $7.2 million since its premiere.

International: Released in China on Chinese New Year, January 22, 2023, Boonie Bears: Guardian Code is a Mandarin-language animated sci-fi comedy film directed by Lin Yongchang and Shao Heqi. The film is the ninth in the series and has grossed over $37.8 million in its domestic territory.

The Turkish animated comedy film, Rafadan Tayfa Galaktik Tayfa, is the third film of its installment and was directed by Ismail Fidan. The film was released on January 5 and has grossed over $2.9 million worldwide.

Streaming: Netflix’s Jung_E premiered on January 20 and took the first-place spot on the streaming service’s list of Global Top 10 most-watched non-English films in multiple countries. The South Korean science-fiction film has been watched for over 19 million hours between the week of January 16-22. Yeon Sang-ho directed the film with a cast that features Kim Hyun-joo, Ryu Kyung-soo, and Kang Soo-yeon in her final film role before passing away in May of 2022.

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, starring Lashana Lynch as Miss Honey, on Netflix was released for streaming in early December of 2022. It was reportedly watched over 41.1 million hours during the last week of the year and has spent four consecutive weeks on the top ten list since December 26. The film was distributed by Netflix internationally, and Sony Pictures Releasing International theatrically distributed the film in the United Kingdom.

Disconnect: The Wedding Planner debuted at number ten in its first week after its January 13 release on Netflix. The Nigerian romantic comedy film was directed by David “Tosh” Gitonga and stars Wuraola Adeleke, Abdrikaz Ahmed, and Vera Atsango. The film was watched over 3.7 million hours during its opening week.