‘M3GAN’ Box Office: $27 Million Opening Weekend Behind ‘Avatar 2’

“M3GAN” is set to make its box office debut this weekend, but it won’t be enough to scare “Avatar: The Way of Water” from the top spot.

Universal’s PG-13 horror is now expected to take a stab at $27 million in its opening weekend, higher than previous estimates. It grossed $11.7 million on Friday and will be the first film to open above $20 million in the first weekend of January — typically a slower, post-holiday period — since 2018’s “Insidious: The Last Key.”

However, “M3GAN” will have to settle for second place, as James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” is looking to earn $35 million to $43 million in its fourth weekend, which will surpass $500 million domestically. That would be down about 33% to 45% from last weekend, but the blockbuster juggernaut continues to break records. On Friday, it surpassed Marvel’s “The Avengers” as the No. 9 highest-grossing movie of all time with $1.546 billion worldwide. It is the second-highest-grossing domestic release of 2022 behind “Top Gun: Maverick.”

“M3GAN” was previously forecast to gross $17 million to $20 million from 3,400 theaters this weekend. That’s a killer start for a film with a production budget of just $12 million.

Short for Model 3 Generative Android, “M3GAN” is directed by Gerard Johnstone and stars Alison Williams and Violet McGrath. When the creation of an AI means providing companionship to a recently orphaned girl, it becomes a little overprotective, creating creepy activities.

Also with “M3GAN”, getting good reviews diversityIts Wayne Glaberman wrote that the film is “heavily steeped in pop-culture role models, but in its trivial way it’s a deviant genre film, with a healthy sense of its own absurdity.”