Marc Forster’s dramedy A Man Called Otto — starring Tom Hanks — is doing solid business at the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday box office in a much-needed win for adult-skewing movies.
The Sony release, playing in 2,802 theaters, is expected to open to $15 million over the long weekend, enough to beat new wide offering Plane, an action pic starring Gerard Butler. Otto is expanding nationwide after starting out in select theaters at the year-end box office. It earned an A Cinemascore on top of strong reviews.
Plane, from Lionsgate, is projected to gross $11.6 million for the four days from 3,023 cinemas. The movie, earning a B+ CinemaScore from moviegoers, is coming in ahead of expectations.
Both films are drawing most of their strength from consumers over the age of 45.
The two movies are looking at fourth and fifth-place finishes. Holding at No. 1 is James Cameron’s powerhouse Avatar: The Way of Water, which is eyeing a four-day holiday gross of $38.5 million-plus from 4,045 cinemas. The Disney and 20th Century tentpole will finish Monday with a domestic total in the $570 million range.
Through Sunday, The Way of Water will have grossed an estimated $1.89 billion globally, including a foreign haul of $1.33 billion. Sometime on Monday, the worldwide total is expected to reach $1.9 billion, one of the best showings of all time.
Horror offering M3GAN is doing nicely in its second weekend with earnings of $21.2 million for the four days from 3,605 locations. That would put the movie’s domestic total at $58.7 million through Monday against a modest $12 million budget. M3GAN is from Universal, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster.
Universal will also lay claim to the third spot on the chart with family film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which is expected to earn $17.3 million for the four days from 3,687 cinemas, jumping the $100 million mark domestically and finishing Monday with a North American total of $110.3 million.
Among other new nationwide offerings, House Party — which was initially set up to debut on HBO Max — is looking at a sixth-place finish with a four-day opening of $4.5 million from 1,300 theaters. The pic is produced by LeBron James, who also has a cameo in the comedy redux.
The Devil Conspiracy is falling flat in its debut with a projected four-day opening of $670,000.
Numbers will be updated Monday.
Jan. 15, 7:45 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published on January 14 at 8:51 a.m.