"Avatar: The Way of Water" finally made room this weekend for a new leader in North American theaters, "Knock at the Cabin," the latest from horror film master M. Night Shyamalan.
Universal's "Knock" took in an estimated $14.2 million for the Friday-through-Saturday period -- not bad for a movie that cost a reported $20 million to make -- industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.
Another new movie, Paramount's "80 for Brady," also slipped in ahead of the "Avatar" sequel, taking in $12.5 million, in what was seen as a sign that older audiences are beginning to return to theaters.
It stars a not-so-young group of friends -- Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Sally Field, Hollywood icons all -- as they travel to watch famed (and just recently retired) NFL quarterback Tom Brady play in the 2017 Super Bowl.
Ending its seven-week box office domination, "Avatar: The Way of Water" from Disney and 20th Century took in $10.8 million to place third. The sci-fi animation has now amassed $636.4 million in domestic ticket sales, for a global total of $2.17 billion.
In fourth place, down two spots from last weekend, was Universal's family-friendly "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," at $8 million.
And in fifth was "BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas," at $6.2 million. From Trafalgar Releasing, it offers fans of the popular South Korean boy band a chance to see clips from a 2022 concert filmed before the band members took a hiatus for their mandatory military service.
He called that "an enormous improvement."
Rounding out the weekend's top 10 were:
"A Man Called Otto" ($4.2 million)
"M3GAN" ($3.8 million)
"Missing" ($3.7 million)
"The Chosen: Season 3 Finale" ($3.6 million)
"Pathaan" ($2.7 million)
