It’s happening. Right now. The film world is turning a corner. The industry has known for a long while that you sell more tickets with a sequel than a non-sequel, but now with James Cameron’s new hit, Avatar: The Way of Water, any recent wavering on the Marvelization of the American film industry is dead.

The greatest form of modern art is also a way to potentially make a whole lot of money. And so it goes. This is all my way of saying that The Way of Water is still No. 1 at the box office, and has already made $600 million in the U.S. and just under $2 billion worldwide. There is a very good chance that this becomes the No. 3 highest-grossing film of all time. 

If you haven’t yet seen it, it’s about blue people on the moon who like water. Really cool stuff.

Also at the Box

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish with Antonio Banderas took the No. 2 spot at the U.S. box office, selling another $11.5 million, upping the its five-week sales total to $126 million. So, yes, we will be getting another one of these films. Yay. 

Horror movie M3GAN took the No.3 spot, selling another $9.8 million, upping the its three-week sales total to $73 million domestically and $125 million worldwide. 

Tom Hanks’ A Man Called Otto and Plane with Gerard Butler took the No. 4 and No. 5 spots, with $9.3 million and $9.0 million in sales, respectively. Wow, Otto is doing much better than I expected. Another little win for the real Captain America, Tom Hanks. I saw this one and it was perfectly enjoyable.

New this week

Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool is finally on the horizon. This one has been getting a lot of chatter for months, since Cronenberg’s last film, Possessor, was treated like something of an instant cult classic. Also, his dad, famed director David Cronenberg, left an impact on film history, so that has to be at last somewhat considered in the hype, right? 

In addition to Infinity Pool, this weekend will also see the release of rom-com Maybe I Do, drama Close, horror film Fear, sci-fi dramedy Distant, and Bob Odenkirk’s new comedy Life Upside Down. Not exactly an exciting week at the movies.

ScreenRant

I’m curious to know what other people do when they sit down in front of the TV with nothing in mind to watch. 

I currently have, in addition to a massive movie collection, Hulu, Prime, HBOMax, Sling, NBA League Pass, and Netflix. Each service has its own link, its own log-in info, and its own menu of shows and films to offer. Where do you start? Do you, like me, browse a few minutes, then just watch a Seinfeld episode you’ve seen 20 times? 

Something tells me that we are far from the final form of streaming. Makes you wonder how many startups there are right now out racing to see who can solve the browsing issue first. 

These days, if I’m watching something, I’m usually doing one of the following: (1) watching something at the downtown Brooklyn Alamo Drafthouse; (2) watching a comfort show or movie on streaming, such as The Office or Seinfeld; (3) watching a film on Blu-ray. 

Send me your notes about your watching habits to gregwlocke@gmail.com.