Avatar: The Way of Water continues to rule the box office with $86.3 million on New Years

Strap in for more Avatar updates. The self-proclaimed “King of the World,” James Cameron, continued to bring in the ticket sales as his sequel to the thirteen-year-old blockbuster, Avatar, raked in $86.3 million on New Years Day and brought its total to $444.4 million over the holiday weekend, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Cameron’s sci-fi epic has crossed the billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office in less than two weeks, making it one of the fastest billion-dollar earning movies of all time.

Avatar: The Way of Water was made to be experienced emphatically through premium theater screens which can account for $152.2 million of its gross from IMAX showings which makes it the fourth-best showing of all time for the large format. The film also continues to eclipse the performances of competing movies also released around Christmas time. The closest competing performance would come from the Dreamworks animated film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish which brought in $22.6 million for the four-day weekend and a domestic total of $67 million so far.

The number 3 slot goes to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which pulled in $6.5 million, bringing it to a total worldwide gross of nearly $820 million in its theatrical run. Dramatic films trailed the blockbusters as the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody followed with a humble $4.9 million over the weekend. The biopic has so far made a disappointing domestic total of $15.5 million with a budget of $45 million before marketing costs.

The other dramatic film, Babylon, which sports a big-name ensemble cast and is brought to us by Whiplash and La La Land writer/director Damien Chazelle, continued to underperform with a dismal $3.4 million showing over the four-day weekend, which brings its total domestic gross to disastrous $10.8 million on a $78 million dollar budget.

What did you go see over the holidays? Let us know in the comments!