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‘Avatar’ Kicked Off Box Office Top Spot by AI Thriller

A sci-fi thriller knocked James Cameron’s film out of the top box office spot.

James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash lost its first-place box office crown after five weeks, overtaken by the sci-fi thriller Mercy. The film, directed by Timur Bekmambetov and starring Chris Pratt, collected $11.2 million domestically in its opening weekend. Set in a futuristic Los Angeles where a man must prove his innocence before an AI judge or face execution, the thriller debuted as more than half of the U.S. population was hit by a winter storm, with emergency alerts issued in several states. Although Mercy surpassed Cameron’s third installment in the Avatar franchise—which has crossed the $1 billion mark globally—it slightly underperformed expectations, which had projected a $12 million domestic opening. “The weekend start is also good considering the soft reception,” David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, told Variety. The film has so far received a 20 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 82 percent audience rating.