Universal and Atomic Monster’s buzzy horror title M3GAN<\/em><\/strong> topped the Friday box office (factoring in Thursday preview figures, of course) but will lose the weekend to holdover hit Avatar: The Way of Water<\/em><\/strong>, which is eyeing its fourth weekend at the top of the chart. With $11.7 million on Friday, including $2.7 million from Thursday previews, M3GAN<\/em> is expected to finish second in its debut weekend of release, with an estimated $27.5 million.<\/p>\n That’s a tremendous result for the sci-fi horror, which only cost a reported $12 million to produce, and was originally projected to make $10 million less. In a deviation from the norm, the movie also received near-unanimous praise from critics, and scored a B CinemaScore from opening day audiences \u2014 horror fans are typically harsher. Universal also utilized unique marketing strategies to promote the movie, generating particular interest on TikTok. Last year, Paramount got excellent results after being similarly creative in its marketing for the hit smile<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That movie concluded its global run with more than $200 million, while 2022’s other runaway horror hit, barbarian<\/strong><\/em>, made nearly $50 million worldwide, also on the back of innovative promotional tactics. In a data point that deserves mention, M3GAN<\/em> almost surpassed the lifetime domestic haul of 2021’s Malignant<\/em><\/strong> in one day. It shares with that modern cult hit producer James Wan<\/strong>writer Akela Cooper<\/strong>, and a campy tone. It should, however, be noted that Malignant<\/em> debuted day and date on HBO Max.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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