The film “Avatar: The Way of Water” became the first movie this year to surpass the coveted $1 billion box office mark in just 14 days.
Only three movies released in 2022 managed to surpass the billion dollar mark, including “Top Gun: Maverick”, which cleared the benchmark in 31 days, and Jurassic World Dominion, which joined the club after more than four months. In contrast, nine films released in 2019 made more than $1 billion worldwide. The Method of Water” is the quickest to raise a ruckus around town since 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which required twelve days. In the history of cinema, only six films have made $1 billion in their first two weeks of release.
The long-awaited sequel to “Avatar” by James Cameron opened in mid-December with $134 million in North America and $435 million worldwide. In the days since its release, it has remained a huge draw. The global total for the Disney and 20th Century Fox movie is $1.025 billion, with $317.1 million coming from North America and $712.7 million coming from overseas. It has surpassed “Jurassic World Dominion” to become the second most successful film of the year and the third most successful pandemic film.
In order to justify its enormous cost, “Avatar 2” appears to remain popular into the new year. Analysts believe that the threshold to profitability is probably closer to $1.5 billion, but Cameron estimated that the movie, which was budgeted at $350 million and does not include at least $100 million in marketing fees, needs to generate approximately $2 billion to break even. Not only is “The Way of Water” expensive, but it is also the first of three planned sequels to Cameron’s otherworldly series. This means that there is a lot riding on it.
With $2.97 billion worldwide, the first “Avatar” is the highest-grossing movie ever. It was released in 2009. The global box office hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic, so the follow-up movie, which came out 13 years later, won’t be able to reach those heights. In addition, the virus is reemerging in China, a significant theatrical market, and Russia, another significant market, will not have access to the film.
“Avatar” stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña and Sigourney Weaver returned for the continuation, which follows the Soil family as they head submerged to fight the components and protect the Na’vi from people. Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Edie Falco, and Jemaine Clement round out the cast.
