Box Office: ‘28 Years Later: The Bone Temple’ opens behind ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’

This image released by Sony Pictures shows Ralph Fiennes in a scene from "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple."

“28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” may have scored well with critics, but slightly more moviegoing audiences chose to spend the holiday weekend catching up with “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

James Cameron’s epic topped the North American box office charts for the fifth straight weekend with $13.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Walt Disney Co. also celebrated another win as their Thanksgiving release “Zootopia 2” became the highest grossing animated Motion Picture Association release of all time.

Meanwhile “The Bone Temple,” directed by Nia DaCosta, landed in second place with $13 million through Sunday. By the end of Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, it’s expected to be at $15 million, still trailing “Avatar’s” projected $17.2 million.

The film, released by Sony Pictures and starring Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell, opened wide this weekend in 3,506 theaters on a wave of hype and strong reviews. It currently has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 72% of audiences said in a PostTrak poll that they would “definitely recommend” the movie.

Considering it’s also solidly in the horror genre and arriving in January, often a dumping ground for lesser movies, “The Bone Temple” should have done better. Internationally, it made $16.2 million from 61 markets.

But perhaps in a case of too much too soon, the sequel also comes less than a year after the previous installment, “28 Years Later,” which opened to $30 million in June. Going into the weekend, “The Bone Temple” was expected to make at least $20 million through Monday. With a reported $63 million production budget, not including marketing and promotion, it also has a long journey to break even.

“It’s one of those head-scratchers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore. “There may be a little bit of confusion from audiences. But word-of-mouth might sustain it in this marketplace, like we saw with ‘The Housemaid’ and ‘Zootopia 2.’”

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the team who started it all with “28 Days Later,” which came out in 2002, are also working on a third installment.

Third place went to “Zootopia 2,” with $8.8 million in its eighth weekend. With global grosses currently at $1.7 billion, it surpassed “Inside Out 2” as the highest grossing MPA animated release of all time. The MPA distinction means that the Chinese blockbuster “Ne Zha 2,” which has made over $2.2 billion, is not included in the rankings. “Zootopia 2” is also now the ninth biggest global release of all time

“The Housemaid,” one of the other major blockbusters of late, landed in fourth place with $8.5 million. Made for only $35 million, the Lionsgate release has grossed nearly $250 million worldwide.

Rounding out the top five was “Marty Supreme,” which became A24’s highest grossing North American release with a running gross of $79.7 million, unseating “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Josh Safdie’s mid-century adrenaline rush may get another boost after Oscar nominations are announced Thursday.

“Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Two Towers” were also back in theaters this weekend and both in the top 10, grossing $3.6 million and $2.4 million respectively.

Outside of the top 10, Focus Features’ “Hamnet,” which won best drama and best female actor for Jessie Buckley at the Golden Globes last weekend and is considered another top Oscar contender, expanded to 718 locations this weekend where it made $1.3 million through Sunday.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Tuesday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore:

1. “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” $13.3 million.

2. “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” $13 million.

3. “Zootopia 2,” $8.8 million.

4. “The Housemaid,” $8.5 million

5. “Marty Supreme,” $5.5 million.

6. “Primate,” $5 million.

7. “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” $3.6 million.

8. “Greenland 2: Migration,” $3.4 million.

9. “Anaconda,” $3.2 million.

10. “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” $2.4 million.

Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press