‘Raya And The Last Dragon’ Repeats At No. 1 With $5.5 Million As Los Angeles Theaters Get Green Light To Re-Open; ‘Avatar’ Retakes All-Time Box-Office Champ Title
It was a very good weekend for the Mouse House. On the domestic front, Disney’s computer-animated adventure Raya and the Last Dragon repeated as the No. 1 movie in North America for the second straight week, pulling in $5.5 million in its sophomore frame. Meanwhile, overseas, the studio re-released a film from the other major it acquired, 20th Century Fox, and its 2009 mega-blockbuster, Avatar. That lured enough ticket buyers in China to help push it past Avengers: Endgame and reclaim its crown as the highest-grossing movie of all time.

First, let’s take a look at Raya. Although the big-budget film dipped -35.3% from the previous weekend, it easily snagged first place at the North American box office despite being available on the Disney+ streaming platform for a $30 fee. Just a week after theaters in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City re-opened—and just days after the all-important Los Angeles market was finally given the green light to return to business for the first time in nearly a year—the PG-rated film earned a $2,542 per-screen average in 2,163 theaters. Its domestic total now stands at $15.8 million. Featuring the voices of Kelly Marie Tran and Awkwafina, Raya fared even better overseas, where it has pulled in $36.8 million so far. Its cumulative worldwide haul after two weeks is $52.6 million.

As for the rest of the Top 5, the line-up remained unchanged from the previous weekend. In the runner-up spot was Warner Bros.’ Tom and Jerry, which raked in $4.1 million in its third week of release. The PG-rated ‘toon starring the iconic, squabbling cat-and-mouse team (as well as human actors Chloe Grace Moretz, Michael Pena, and Colin Jost) slid -37.9% from the previous session and scored a $1,670 per-screen average in 2,454 theaters. Its three-week domestic total is now $28.2 million. Abroad, the film has added $38.7 million thus far, bringing its worldwide tally to $66.9 million.

In third place was Lionsgate’s Chaos Walking, which added $2.3 million in its second weekend. The PG-13-rated dystopian sci-fi thriller starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley fell -40.4% from last weekend, unspooling in 1,995 theaters, which translated to a $1,127 per-screen average. Despite lackluster reviews, the film has scored $6.9 million in the first two weeks of its domestic run. Chaos has pulled in $5 million from foreign markets, putting its worldwide cume at $11.9 million.

In fourth place once again was Focus Features’ Boogie, which earned $730,000 in its second frame. The R-rated coming-of-age drama, about a basketball phenom in Queens starring Taylor Takahashi, shed -39.2% from the previous weekend, scoring a $573 per-screen average in 1,272 locations. It has not yet opened internationally.

Rounding out the Top 5 was Universal and DreamWorks’ The Croods: A New Age, which refuses to disappear after sixteen weeks in theaters. The PG-rated ‘toon tacked on another $520,000 in North America, ticking down -34% from last weekend. The Croods scored a $361 per-screen average in 1,440 theaters. Its domestic box-office total is now $54.3 million. It has added $104.4 million from foreign territories, putting its worldwide total at $158.7 million.

The only other new release of note in the Top 10 this weekend was Sony Picture Classics’ The Father. The PG-13-rated drama about a man (Anthony Hopkins) suffering from dementia took in $390,000 in what is technically its third week in theaters. However, this was its first weekend in wide release, and the awards-hopeful may soon get a bounce at the box-office after Oscar nominations are announced on Monday. The film, which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, earned a $433 per-screen average in 900 theaters this weekend.

Finally, James Cameron’s sci-fi spectacular, Avatar, worked its way back into the record books this weekend. The film, which currently has several sequels in the works, was re-released in China over the weekend, where it took in $12 million and counting. The new box-office infusion pushed Cameron’s film past Avengers: Endgame (yes, another Disney title), making it the top-grossing films of all-time. Again. At presstime, Avatar’s global total stands at a little over $2.8 billion. That’s billion with a ‘b’.