Avatar: The Way of Water is halfway to the $2 billion goal Director James Cameron has hoped for in order to be profitable. While final holiday weekend global revenue numbers are not yet reported, as of yesterday, the latest installment has managed to pull in over $850 million in just 10 days and is expected to pass $1 billion by the new year. To date, only Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World: Dominion have managed to get past the $1B mark in 2022. The original Avatar movie, after multiple releases over 13 years, eventually took back the crown of the highest-grossing movie in history with a global tally of $2.97 billion while this sequel currently sits at 5th position for 2022 at $855.4 million.
The sequel is also experiencing a similar set of circumstances as its 2009 predecessor surrounding its release in that both movies were released during the December block of holidays while severe winter weather pummeled parts of North America. However, it seems even with challenging weather conditions Americans have still found a way to gather at the theaters to experience the over three-hour movie.
Breakdown of numbers as of December 25
- $253.7 million domestically including $56 million from North America over the weekend, shown in 4,202 theaters
- $602 million internationally- Including $100.5 million from China, $53 million in Korea, $52.3 million in France, $37 million from India, and $35.7 million from Germany
- Estimated $350 million budget
- $97 million from Imax globally
“’Avatar: The Way of Water’ is showing the strong endurance at the global box office we expected, particularly with its phenomenal performance internationally where several key markets grew their grosses over opening weekend,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of Imax. “Our screens remain the destination of choice to experience this one-of-a-kind film.”
Crushing the competition
Avatar: The Way of Water effectively crushed the competition at the box office this weekend as many moviegoers opted to return to Pandora instead of watching other offerings such as the Hollywood extravaganza Babylon, starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, and the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. The former has costs of over $80 million and is estimated to make $5.3 million by today with the ladder costing around $45 million and is expected to pull in around $9 million by today. Meanwhile, the animated sequel, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, is performing strongly and has generated $57.2 million globally during its debut weekend and was budgeted at $90 million. One last mention is that Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is nearing $800 million globally following just over seven weeks of release.