Waiting for its long-awaited sequel – opening in December all over the world, Italy included –  James Cameron‘s 2009 Avatar is making once again splashes at the box office in its re-release in theaters: grossing $1,658.061 (same in Euros) on its second week of play, the 3D fantasy/sci-fi juggernaut is again at the top of Italian box-office chart, according to Cinetel’s data: Avatar has so far grossed over $2 million since its release, bringing over a monthlong record of 250,000 moviegoers to the Bel Paese theaters.

Number 2 of the week it’s Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling, starring Florence Pugh, Harry Styles and Wilde herself, which was presented with acclaim at the Venice Film Festival out of competition: the psychological thriller set in the 1950s in a suburban utopia, grossed $955.500 in its second week, with an about $1,1 million total at the Italian cinemas.

The animated Minions 2 – The Rise of Gru, sequel to the franchise of yellow monsters inaugurated by Despicable Me, keeps doing good business with $700,000 earning this week, after it release a month ago, and a $14 million total. It’s still the number 3 film in the earning chart.

Gianni Amelio’s Il signore delle formiche (which debuted in competition in Venice) is the first Italian movie topping N. 4 with $481,000 on its second week and about $1.4 million total. Immediately behind is another Italo production, L’immensita’, by Emanuele Crialese, with Penélope Cruz as a mother of a “fluid” gender daughter in 1970’s Rome, with $722,000 grosses in its first week of release.

Bullet Train, the action thriller starring Brad Pitt, distributed by Warner Bros Italia, has slipped to N.6 with $360 k this week, and a a $2,6 million total. Another Warner Bros Italia release (as was L’immensita’) is DC League of Super Pets, which grossed $322k in its second week of release and slightly more than $2 million total.

French film Maigret, with Gerard Depardieu, debuted at N.8 with $551,000 in its first week. N. 9 is American Memory ($473 k in its first week) and at N. 10 rounds up the best grossers chart Italian Ti mangio il cuore ($380 k).

Things don’t look particularly good for domestic productions at the theatrical box office: “The era of venues filled up to 98% is officially over,” states specialized site Cinemotore. Which advises: “Instead of keep churning productions – we’ll have 300 Italian film a year never distributed theatrically – film executives and exhibitors should urgently meet and try to understand what to do.” Find, that is, a strategy to bring in viewers also for things that are not the usual tent-pole blockbusters movies and revive the appetite for quality fares, even art-houses films.

Speaking of which, upcoming at the Italian cinemas are Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse (Part One), on October 7, Halloween Ends, with Jamie Lee Curtis (October 14), The Flash and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (both first week of November), while everybody’s waiting for the announced ultra-mega movie event Avatar 2 (December 15).

In the meantime, many are waiting – on the streaming side – the first season of the Netflix series The Old Man, with Jeff Bridges as an ex-CIA agent gone rogue, at its highly promoted debut this coming weekend.