While Covid has been exploding in China with the lifting of the draconian ‘zero-covid’ restrictions, fans have still managed to go to cinemas. Avatar: The Way of Water has lifted the moribund Chinese box office and has so far grossed $157.25 million in 17 days of release, earning $5.53 million on Friday, $15.91 million on Saturday, and another $16 million on Sunday despite the stories of overwhelmed hospitals, overflowing morgues and self-imposed lockdowns by scared citizens coming out of China.

The film crossed the billion-dollar mark worldwide in less than 2 weeks by December 29 and has now earned $1.2 billion, with more than $957 million coming from international markets, surpassing Top Gun: Maverick to become the top international box office hit of 2022 per Box Office Guru. However, it has to double that number to break even, according to director James Cameron.

Historically, Cameron’s movies have held on for weeks at the box office, with fans viewing them multiple times. 2009’s Avatar is still the box office champion with $2.92 billion total, with $261 million coming from China.

Avatar 2 has one great advantage in a country where piracy is rampant – it has to be watched on a big screen in 3D, or even in IMAX, which has accounted for at least a quarter of the box office take. On IMAX’s website, the company said it delivered a $15.8 million opening weekend for Avatar 2 in China, its biggest opening weekend marketing share ever, accounting for 27% of the total box office on only 1% of total screens in the market.

Here are the top ten films for the weekend of Dec 30-January 1.

At No. 2 is the new Chinese comedy Better Man, co-written and directed by Zhang Qi. The story is about an arrogant man who is magically sent to a world where females dominate and are turned into submissive househusbands in order to better appreciate his wife.  It has grossed $16.41 million in 2 days (including its week in previews; it was officially released on December 31) and stars Chang Yuan, Jackie Li, and Wei Xiang.

Some Day or One Day, a Taiwanese romantic drama, falls to No. 3 with $36.33 million earned over 9 days, with a total weekend take of $17.83 million. It is based on a television show about two people who searched for each other over several past lives and have one more chance for a happy ending. The film stars Ko Chia-Yen and Greg Hsu and is directed by Tien Jen Huang.

Dreamworks Animation/Universal’s sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish ends the weekend at No. 4 on Sunday, earning $1.46 million over 10 days. The voice cast includes Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, and Florence Pugh, and the film is directed by Joel Crawford.

One Piece Film: Red, a Japanese animated film, comes in at No. 5 with $24.48 million over 32 days and $0.96 million over the weekend. The manga musical fantasy is the 15^th film in the One Piece franchise and is directed by Goro Taniguchi. It opened in July worldwide.

Another Japanese animated film, Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween, is at No. 6 with $26.28 million over 45 days. The mystery film directed by Susumu Mitsunaka is also based on a manga series and is the 25^th iteration of the Case Closed franchise.

The new Chinese animated action film, A Wiz Named Wukong, opened at No. 7 this weekend with $0.39 million; Netflix’s action-comedy with Kevin Hart, The Man From Toronto, took eighth place with $0.25 million over 10 days; the Chinese crime thriller The Tipping Point was ninth with $25.82 million over 52 days; and the rerelease of the French film Les Choristes rounded out the top ten with $1.08 million over its entire run since 2005.