"Avatar: The Way Of Water" Tops Box Office Charts

James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, has reportedly collected $134 million in its North American box office debut, according to Variety.

What’s Happening:

As the opening weekend concludes, Avatar: The Way of Water is number one at the box office, taking in $134 Million in North American theaters, with a global total coming in at $435 million.
The ticket sales mark the third-biggest global opening weekend in the COVID-19 era, following Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which opened with $442 million globally and Spider-Man: No Way Home which took in $600 million globally upon its opening.
Not only does this reaffirm the public’s interest in Pandora, it also gives a needed boost to beleaguered movie theaters, who since the global shutdown have been struggling to bring audiences in to their facilities and away from their devices and streaming hubs.
Notably, the debut of Avatar: The Way of Water secures four out of the five top box office spots for the Walt Disney Company. Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever slid to second place after five weeks in the number 1 spot, while Universal’s Violent Night came in third. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Strange World added $2.2 million to their total, bringing its take to $33.7 million, a fraction of what it cost to produce. In the fifth spot, Searchlight’s The Menu, brought in $1.7 million across almost 1900 screens.
Turnout was especially strong on IMAX and 3D screens, with 62% of ticket sales coming from premium formats. Globally, the film made $48.8 million from IMAX alone, registering as the company’s second-biggest weekend ever and highest December opening in history.
Many studios opted not to release anything against Avatar: The Way of Water, considering it’s the highly anticipated and long awaited sequel to the highest-grossing film in history. Though, the original didn’t debut with a mind-blowing number. It had a decent opening at $77 million, but it was repeat viewings and word of mouth (not to mention expensive 3-D tickets) that kept the film in a number one spot for 7 weeks in its original theatrical run. The film would eventually go on to earn $760 million in North America and $2.92 billion globally.
That said, the sequel will reportedly struggle to reach those numbers, thanks to restrictions facing the COVID-era box office and other factors. The film will not be playing in Russia, where the original film grossed $116 million. In China, the country’s box office has been struggling to rebound, and though the film is showing in that country, inaugural ticket sales were below expectations at $57.1 million.
However, there’s not much competition slated to be released against the film through the rest of the year. Though, the film’s rather extensive 3 hour and 12 minute runtime might keep theatergoers from wanting to watch the movie repeatedly.
More importantly The Way of Water cost at least $350 million to produce and many millions more to market. James Cameron recently told GQ that the film needs to become one of the top-grossing releases in history to break even and justify its massive price tag.
With Avatar: The Way of Water, the cinematic experience reaches new heights as director James Cameron transports audiences back to the magnificent world of Pandora in a spectacular and stirring action-packed adventure. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure.
This film is directed by James Cameron, produced by Cameron and Jon Landau, the Lightstorm Entertainment Production, and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Kate Winslet.
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters everywhere.