Sequel movie Avatar: The Way of Water remains at the top of the UK box office for a third weekend as Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody comes in at number 2 on its debut.

UK weekend box office top 5 breakdown 30th - 1st January 2023

Spending a third week on top of the UK box office is the sequel movie to Avatar which takes £7.6 Million, a 35% increase on its Christmas weekend total.

The movie has now taken a magnificent £44.9 Million at the UK box office after 3 weeks of release.

It is £12 Million ahead of Avatar at the same point of its run and for many years that was the top grossing movie of all time in the UK.

The movie is the 3rd top grossing film of 2022, but is fast catching Top Gun: Maverick and will likely be the top grossing movie released in 2022 before the end of its run.

Highest new movie this weekend

The bio-pic of Whitney Houston starring Naomi Ackie and directed by Kasi Lemmons got released on Boxing Day this year and lands at number 2 on the UK box office.

The movie takes £3.3 Million on its debut despite getting quite a panning from critics.

The movie is looking for Oscar glory which if it achieves could boost the gross quite a but especially around the February window, and even more so if it wins!

Falling to number 2 this weekend is the musical version of the Roald Dahl story of Matilda which takes £2 Million over the New Year weekend, a 45% increase over last weekend.

The former number 1 movie has now taken £20.8 Million over its 6 weeks of release.

The sequel movie to Black Panther climbs back up the box office to number 4 this weekend with a gross of £436,156, a 54% increase over last weekend.

The movies weekend gross being so low and the movie still climbing to number 4 is a reflection of the current state of the box office and shows how much Avatar: The Way of Water is taking from the box office.

The movie has taken a total of £33.2 Million in the UK and is well below that of the first movie which had taken nearly £50 Million 8 weeks into its run.

Disney's latest animated movie, which had been considered a relative flop at the box officem, climbs to number 5 this weekend with a gross of £280,777, a 49% increase.

The movie has grossed a total of £3.1 Million at the UK box office which is about half that of Disney's previous movie Encanto.

As predicted with the surge in COVID-19 cases in the US, the big movie of the holiday season, Wonder Woman 1984, will debut on steaming and cinema on the same day.

The Patty Jenkins directed movie will get the duel release in the US with no word yet on if the Boxing Day release in the UK is changing or a streaming option will be in place as well.

The movie has been changed from earlier in 2020 to later in 2020 a couple of time finally settling for a Christmas release.

With COVID-19 cases on the increase in the US and the UK on a lockdown until early December Warner Bros. have decided to dual release it.

With a vaccine almost imminent this could be perhaps the last big film to get this type of release, altohugh with Universal seemingly a fan of short release windows who know, but thats a story for another day.

Can we say cinemas as we know and love it has died yet?

**UPDATE** It looks like the UK release has been brought forward and will be released in cinemas on December 16th.

For the first time ever, #WonderWoman1984 will release in theatres and stream exclusively on @HBOmax* on December 25. - - *Available on HBO Max in the US only at no extra cost to subscribers. pic.twitter.com/bU1Lmg5YDA

— Wonder Woman 1984 (@WonderWomanFilm) November 19, 2020

pic.twitter.com/t0iaXgVWXh

— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) November 19, 2020

Finishing off this week we have the first trailer for new comedy Holmes And Watson starring buddies Will Farrell and John C. Reilly.

The very British crime fighting duo and in fine comedic form in the film and it looks like Farrell and Reilly pull of the Britishness with ease.

Expect lots of slap stick comedy in this silly looking but funny turn, it will keep you Holmies happy until the new Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. comes around.

The film is due for release on Boxing day of 2018 and you can check out the first trailer below.

The boys are back! Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are #HolmesAndWatson � only in theatres this Christmas. Watch the new trailer now! pic.twitter.com/0EbZ2vY8dt

— Sony Pictures (@SonyPictures) September 28, 2018

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey holds firm at the top of the UK box office this week despite very strong competition from tsunami film The Impossible.

With a 3 day weekend gross of £4,075,781 The Hobbit stays put at the top of the UK box office for an amazing fourth week. The total gross for the Middle �Earth film is now just shy of £45 million, and is the 30th top film in the UK.

The Impossible is the highest new film at 2, starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts it's the true story of a family lost in the Boxing Day tsunami that happened in Thailand in 2004. With little publicity until recent weeks the film took a decent £ 4,034,470 over the weekend.

This time last year Tom Cruise was still at the top with Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol and Oscar winning film The Iron Lady about Margaret Thatcher's reign as British Prime Minister was the highest new entry at 3.

Five years ago I am legend was still at the top of the box office, and you had to look as far down as number 10 to get the highest new entry, Lust Caution, an Ang Lee direct film starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai.

Ten Years ago The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers wouldn't shift from the top of the box office which Star Trek Nemesis was the highest new film at 2.

Fifteen years ago Paul Verhoevens Starship Troopers was the top film in the country.