Avatar 2 passes $1 billion at the box office as starry Babylon fails to shine

Even as a winter storm swept across the country this Christmas, things were decidedly warm and toasty on Pandora.

Avatar: The Way of Water has already grossed over $1 billion at the global box office in just 2 weeks. Per Comscore, James Cameron's big-budget sequel earned an estimated $56 million over the Christmas weekend. As of Tuesday, the Disney and 20th Century film has raked in $317.1 million in North America and another $712.7 million overseas, taking its global total to $1.025 billion.

Way of Water has now passed Jurassic World Dominion as the second highest-grossing movie of the year behind Top Gun: Maverick ($1.49 billion). Still, it took Maverick a month to clear the billion-dollar mark, and it took Jurassic World Dominion more than four months to get there.

20th Century Studios Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tonowari (Cliff Curtis) lead the Metkayina clan in 'Avatar: The Way of Water'

Meanwhile, things were decidedly cooler for some of this year's new Christmas releases. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish took the second spot with an estimated $11.4 million, while the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody brought in an estimated $5.3 million.

As for Babylon, Damien Chazelle's starry old Hollywood drama, it only earned $3.5 million over the Christmas weekend. That's a particularly dour number, especially since Babylon opened wide in more than 3,300 theaters. With cast members like Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, Babylon has plenty of star power, but reviews have been mixed, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 54 percent and a dismal C+ CinemaScore from audiences. Per Deadline, Paramount needs Babylon to earn $250 million worldwide to break even after budget and marketing costs — a number it seems unlikely to hit.

See the full top 10 list for this year's domestic Christmas box office below, courtesy of Comscore:

1. Avatar: The Way of Water— $56 million
2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish — $11.4 million
3. Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody — $5.3 million
4. Babylon — $.3.5 million
5. Violent Night — $3.1 million
6. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — $3 million
7. The Whale — $924,000
8. The Menu — $671,000
9. The Fabelmans — $550,000
10. Strange World — $410,000

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