In the US, M Night Shyamalan's 'Knock at the Cabin' finally dethroned 'Avatar: The Way of Water' after seven weekends at the top. However, here in Australia, audiences continued to prefer adventures in Pandora, with the James Cameron sequel now edging towards $90 million gross.
Indian spy thriller 'Pathaan', starring Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, has enjoyed a bumper first weekend at the box office, coming in at no. 2 behind 'Avatar: The Way of Water'.
In North America, Paramount's 'Babylon' has been labelled a box office bomb. Australian audiences, so far at least, seem to be a little more enthused by Damien Chazelle's starry latest about the excess of 1920s Hollywood.
'M3GAN' and 'Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre' each enjoyed healthy debuts over the weekend, though 'Avatar: The Way of Water' remains far and away the main attraction at the box office.
'Avatar: The Way of Water' has proved the bumper summer hit exhibitors hoped it would be. Some four weekends in, the James Cameron sequel - with a cume of $66.7 million - is already the the sixth highest grossing film to ever be released in Australia.
Disney's 'Avatar: The Way of Water' absolutely dominated cinemas in its opening weekend, capturing an 87 per cent market share.
Ahead of the opening of 'Avatar: The Way of Water' on Thursday, the national box office plummeted to a new post-2021 lockdown low last weekend.
Last weekend proved to be the slowest at the box office this year yet, with national receipts the lowest they have been since 2021's COVID-19 lockdowns ended.