Box Office: Avatar: The Way of Water makes a splash

This weekend, the Australian box office made $16.81 million, up 280% from last week's $4.3 million.

The long-awaited sequel to Avatar (2009) finally hit cinemas this past weekend, grossing $14.75 million. With a run time of three hours and 12 minutes, Avatar: The Way of Water was watched on 1,281 screens across the country.

Directed by James Cameron, the film sees cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, and Stephen Lang reprising their roles from the original film, with Kate Winslet and Cliff Curtis joining as new members. The film reportedly cost $US350 million ($521 million) to make and has a long way to go to match the original film, which is the highest-grossing film in Australia with $115.7 million. Despite this, Avatar: The Way of Water outperformed the original Avatar’s Australian opening weekend box office result by +38%.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has dropped to second in the Australian box office charts in its sixth week, falling -66% from the weekend before. The highly-anticipated Marvel sequel to Black Panther (2018) is the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

In its fourth week, Strange World remained moved up the ranks to come in at third. The film stars the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, and Lucy Liu, and follows the Clades, a family of explorers who set aside their differences as they embark on a journey to a mysterious land.

Universal's Violent Night has fallen to fourth from second in its third week The Christmas action-comedy film stars David Harbour as Santa Claus, who fights mercenaries who have taken a wealthy family hostage in their home. This past weekend, the film grossed $260k.

Walt Disney's The Menu has fallen from third to fifth. The comedy horror film focuses on a group of diners at an exclusive restaurant who discover the celebrity chef owner intends to kill them all before the night is out. The film has grossed over $3.5 million to date. 

In its ninth week, Warner Bros' Black Adam has fallen out of the top five, coming in at 13th.

#1, Avatar: The Way of Water, $14,743,196

The highly-anticipated sequel to Avatar averaged $11,509 across 1,281 screens in its debut week. Avatar's weekend tally is the second-biggest of the year in Australia, behind Thor: Love and Thunder. 

#2, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, $444,548

The superhero film is the sequel to Black Panther (2018) and the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film averaged $1,723 across 258 screens and has grossed $28.09 million to date.

#3, Strange World, $354,789

The film averaged $1,215 across 292 screens in its third weekend, bringing in $2.83 million to date.

#4, Violent Night, $260,682

In its third week, Violent Night averaged $1,082 across 241 screens and has grossed $2.06 million to date. 

#5, The Menu, $231,221

The film averaged $992 across 233 screens in its third weekend and has grossed $3.56 million to date.