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‘Avatar 2,’ ‘M3GAN’ hold onto top spots at the box office

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'Avatar 2,' 'M3GAN' hold onto top spots at the box office
GLOBALTIMESPAKISTAN

New movies like “Plane” and “House Party” were no match for “Avatar: The Way of Water” and the killer doll horror “M3GAN” at the box office this weekend. The two holdovers topped the charts again according to studio estimates Sunday.

In first place for the fifth weekend in a row was James Cameron’s “Avatar” sequel, which added an estimated $31.1 million through Sunday. That total will likely balloon to $38.5 million by the end of Monday’s Martin Luther King holiday. As of Sunday, the film’s domestic total now rests at $562.9 million (the 13th biggest of all time) and its global total is $1.89 billion. “Avatar 2” needs to pass $1.92 billion to trump “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which is currently the sixth highest grossing film of all time globally.

“There were such huge expectations and a lot of naysayers that opening weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “But ‘Avatar,’ for a James Cameron movie, is moving at lightning speed up the domestic and global box office chart. I think he always knew this would be a $2 billion movie.”

Second place went to Universal and Blumhouse’s “M3GAN” which in its second weekend in theaters added $17.9 million through Sunday and an estimated $21.2 million including Monday. The modestly budgeted thriller that cost a reported $12 million to produce has made $59.8 million in North America.

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Horror movies typically have very steep second weekend drop offs in ticket sales, but “M3GAN” only fell 41%. Dergarabedian said that’s almost unheard of for a horror picture and shows “world class staying power.”

Universal also claimed the third place spot, with “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” which audiences continued to seek out in theaters even though it’s currently available to rent at home. The family-friendly animated film added $13.4 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to $110.3 million.

“A Man Called Otto,” from Columbia Pictures, expanded to 3,802 theaters this weekend, adding $12.7 million through Sunday, and $15 million including Monday, to take fourth place. Directed by Marc Forster, the adaptation of “A Man Called Ove” starring Tom Hanks is proving to be something of a rarity in the theatrical marketplace as an adult-targeted drama that is doing well.

The Gerard Butler action pic “Plane,” a Lionsgate acquisition for release in North America, rounded out the top five with a better-than-expected $10 million in its first three days. In the film, Butler plays a pilot whose crash landing on an island is only the first of his troubles. On the island, most of the passengers are taken hostage. “Plane” got better-than-average reviews with 75% positive from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sixth place went to the second major new offering this weekend, “House Party,” a reboot of Reginald Hudlin’s 1990 hit that spawned several spinoffs. The film, which made $3.9 million through Sunday from 1,400 locations, was originally intended as a straight-to-HBO Max property but Warner Bros. pivoted to a theatrical release as a gesture to audiences and exhibitors hungry for new films. The R-rated, youth-oriented comedy did not score well with critics.

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Overall, the three-day box office total is going to net out around $100 million, which is not quite at pre-pandemic levels, but still up some 44% from the same weekend last year.

“January is not going to be the slow month we thought. It’s a great combination of films out there that’s not just dominated by ‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’” Dergarabedian said. “Theaters need movies and the studios are supplying those.”

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, with Wednesday through Sunday in parentheses. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Avatar: The Way of Water,” $31.1 million.

2. “M3GAN,” $17.9 million.

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3. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” $13.4 million.

4. “A Man Called Otto,” $12.7 million.

5. “Plane,” $10 million.

6. “House Party,” $3.9 million.

7. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” $2.2 million.

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8. “The Whale,” $1.5 million.

9. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” $1.2 million.

10. “Waltair Veeraya,” 905,000.

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Noorul Hassan joins star cast of Selahaddin Eyyubi

Noorul Hassan joins star cast of Selahaddin Eyyubi

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Noorul Hassan joins star cast of Selahaddin Eyyubi

Noorul Hassan, a popular TV show host and a veteran TV actor known for his versatile roles in several drama serials over the last two decades, has joined the star cast of the Turkish drama serial Selahaddin Eyyubi, which is a combination of action, historical drama and adventure.

A private TV channel will soon telecast Selahaddin Eyyubi in the Urdu language. 

Previously, this drama serial is being telecast by a Turkish TV channel at 9pm every Monday.

This drama serial is based on the life of the inspiring Muslim ruler and military commander Sultan Selahaddin Eyyubi.

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Turkish actor Ugur Gunes is playing the role of Sultan Selahaddin Eyyubi in the drama serial also featuring Pakistani actors Adnan Siddiqui, Humayun Saeed, Kashif Ansari, Junaid Ali Shah and others.

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Aamir Khan to appear on ‘Kapil Sharma Show’ for 1st time

Aamir Khan to appear on ‘Kapil Sharma Show’ for 1st time

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Aamir Khan to appear on 'Kapil Sharma Show' for 1st time

Bollywood icon Aamir Khan will make his debut appearance in an interview with comedian Kapil Sharma.

He recently filmed an episode for Netflix’s upcoming series, “The Great Indian Kapil Show,” as teased in a newly released promo.

Despite having shared public interactions previously, this marks the first time the two stars have collaborated professionally.

According to NDTV’s report last year, during the trailer launch event of “Carry on Jatta 3,” Aamir Khan questioned why he hadn’t been invited to Kapil’s show yet.

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In response, Kapil innocently stated, “I’ve always approached him amidst crowds and requested him to join our show. However, he often mentioned being occupied with other engagements.”

Aamir, the lead actor of “Ghajini,” then assured, “I’ll definitely make it, but please avoid calling me around my movie releases. I prefer not to promote them and would rather entertain.”

Nearly a year later, he has fulfilled his promise.

This is a significant gesture from Aamir, who typically refrains from interview appearances unless it’s for promotional purposes.

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US artist Richard Serra, known for enormous steel sculptures, dead at 85

US artist Richard Serra, known for enormous steel sculptures, dead at 85

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US artist Richard Serra, known for enormous steel sculptures, dead at 85

American artist Richard Serra, whose enormous steel sculptures coated with a fine patina of rust decorated landscapes and dominated oversized galleries in the world’s finest museums, died on Tuesday, the New York Times reported. He was 85.

The artist died at his home on New York’s Long Island of pneumonia, the Times reported, citing his lawyer, John Silberman.

Born in San Francisco in 1938 to a Spanish father and Russian mother, Serra grew up visiting marine shipyards where his father worked and also labored in steel mills to support himself in his youth, according to his San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim Museum biographies.

Despite the large scale of his works, artistically he was considered a minimalist, letting the dimensions of his art relative to the viewer, rather than elaborate imagery, make its point.

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After studying at the University of California, Berkeley, and Yale University, he moved to New York in 1966 where he began making art from industrial materials such as metal, fiberglass and rubber.

Though he would later become quite popular, one of his 1981 works was so poorly received that it was removed from public view in Lower Manhattan, ARTnews said.

“Tilted Arc,” a 120-foot (36-meter) bar of steel, is today “remembered as one of the most reviled works of public art in the city’s history. It was ultimately taken away because people hated it so much,” ARTnews said.

He made a breakthrough in 1969 when he was included in “Nine Young Artists: Theodoron Awards” at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

After traveling to Spain to study Mozarabic architecture in the early 1980s, his work gained renowned in Europe and with solo exhibitions at major museums in Germany and France.

Serra’s work was especially appreciated in his father’s native Spain, where the Reina Sofia museum offered a 1992 retrospective of his work and he had an exhibit dedicated exclusively to his work at the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.

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A 2002 New Yorker magazine profile entitled “Man of Steel” described him as a “stocky, powerful-looking man with a large head, a fringe of close-cropped gray hair, and black eyes whose intense stare reminds you of Picasso’s.”

That same piece told of Serra’s self-realisation that he was not a painter, after seeing Diego Velazquez’s 1656 work “Las Meninas” in the Prado museum in Madrid.

“It pretty much stopped me,” Serra said. “Cezanne hadn’t stopped me, de Kooning and Pollack hadn’t stopped me, but Velazquez seemed like a bigger thing to deal with. That sort of nailed the coffin on painting for me.”

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