The long awaited, box office dominating sequel to James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has finally crossed the 1 billion mark.
However compared to the first film, Way of Water continued to underperform making only $53 million on opening day and only $24 million in China, one of its biggest movie going markets, and the film’s opening weekend saw a total of only $130 million.
Courtesy of Disney
Avatar 2 is reported to have a budget of $460 million, making it the most expensive movie in Hollywood history according to Deadline.
James Cameron explained that Way of Water will need to be the “third or fourth highest-grossing film in history to be profitable. That’s your threshold. That’s your breakeven.”
On Tuesday, December 27th, 14 days after the film’s release, the worldwide box office total of Avatar: Way and The Water reached $1.03 billion. It is the sixth fastest film to reach a billion at the box office and the 4th highest grossing film of 2022, following Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Jurassic World: Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick. It has also reached the 60th highest grossing film of all time at the Box Office and is continuing to climb.
Avatar: Way of the Water had a worldwide opening of $441.7 million, the 11th-biggest of all time, and the third largest in the pandemic era behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($601 million) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($452.4 million).
Courtesy of Disney
Having reached over $300 million domestically and over $700 million internationally, Avatar: The Way of Water is continuing to make waves at the Box Office as it enters its 3rd week. The first Avatar film took 19 days to reach 1 billion dollars at the box office. The previous record.
Outside the United States and Canada the film grossed $307.6 million in 52 countries in its first week of release. The largest running-total markets by December 27 were China ($104.3 million), South Korea ($24.9 million), France ($21.7 million), Germany ($19.4 million) and India ($19.2 million), the film performed very well in India.
Aside from it’s box office success, Avatar: The Way of Water was nominated for five Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. It was also named one of the ten best films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. It is a strong contender for the 2023 Academy Awards.
As the film continues to perform well in both local and international markets, it is expected to surpass Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as the 3rd highest grossing film of the year. Whether it can beat Top Gun: Maverick for the top spot remains to be seen. However it is expected that Avatar: The Way of Water will reach the $2 billion mark by the end of its box office run.
James Cameron has definitely set high standards for himself, he has delivered, now its time to wait and see if he can top himself.
Fangirl and Writer with a huge passion for entertainment.
