With a winter storm blanketing much of the country, Hollywood had its quietest weekend of the year at the box office. The Amazon MGM sci-fi thriller Mercy dethroned Avatar: Fire and Ash from the No. 1 spot with $11.2 million in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. Hundreds of theaters were forced to close due to the winter storm, from Texas to Maine, the AP reports. The offerings were not set up for blockbuster weekend, anyway. Mercy, a $60 million thriller starring Chris Pratt as a man standing trial before an AI judge, was the top new release. It arrived with withering reviews (20% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and an equally poor reception (a B- CinemaScore) from audiences.
The film nevertheless dislodged James Cameron's third Pandora epic from its monthlong perch atop the box office. Avatar: Fire and Ash slid to second place. While the Walt Disney Co. release is starting to peter out domestically, it remains a top draw overseas, taking in $28.1 million internationally in its sixth weekend. Several recent releases struggled, including Return to Silent Hill. In its second week of release, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple dropped swiftly. Other new releases flopped. H Is for Hawk, starring Claire Foy, took in just $150,000 from 472 theaters. Clika, about a migrant worker with music aspirations, managed only $1.2 million in 522 locations.
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
- Mercy, $11.2 million.
- Avatar: Fire and Ash, $7 million.
- Zootopia 2, $5.7 million.
- The Housemaid, $4.2 million.
- 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, $3.6 million.
- Marty Supreme, $3.5 million.
- Return to Silent Hill, $2.7 million.
- Hamnet, $2 million.
- Lord of the Rings, $2 million.
- Primate, $1.7 million.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
