For the first time in almost two months, the box office doesn't belong to blue people.

After seven weeks as the top film in theatres, Avatar: The Way of Water was finally knocked out of the number one spot by the M. Night Shyamalan thriller Knock at the Cabin and the octogenarian comedy 80 for Brady.

Knock at the Cabin, a home invasion horror film with an apocalyptic riff, dethroned James Cameron's 3-D sci-fi epic with NZ$22.4 million in ticket sales at US and Canadian theatres, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Universal Pictures release stars Dave Bautista as one of four strangers who approach a family vacationing in a rural cabin.

The opening for Knock at the Cabin came up shy of some of Shyamalan's recent releases. His last film, 2021's Old, about a beach that rapidly ages those who visit it, launched with NZ$26.7 million and ultimately collected NZ$142.5 million worldwide.

His 2019 film Glass, the third instalment in the director's Unbreakable trilogy, opened with NZ$63.7 million on its way to grossing NZ$390.6 million globally. Every other film directed by Shyamalan has opened higher than Knock at the Cabin.

But Knock at the Cabin still marks Shyamalan's seventh film as director to open number one. With a modest budget of NZ$31.6 million, Knock at the Cabin should easily turn a profit.

The film, which drew mostly positive reviews from critics (68% on Rotten Tomatoes), added another NZ$11 million internationally.

Avatar: The Way of Water slid to third with NZ$17 million domestically in its eighth weekend. The film's number streak matched the run of 2009's Avatar.

In the last four decades, only those two by Cameron and his Titanic\ (1997) have had such sustained reigns atop the box office.