James Cameron may be looking with excitement at the first official results of “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Following the premiere weekend, the amazingly visually polished spectacle raked in more than $400 million, but that’s just the beginning of the battle to get the highest possible results at the ticket windows.
A dozen years after the debut of the first movie, the talented and famous director has reached his stride and continues the story set on Pandora.
Back in November, James Cameron described the upcoming film as “the worst business case in the history of cinema,” which needs to generate more than $2 billion to break even.
Is it possible? Following the first days of its release, it is difficult to determine whether we will have the huge box office success that its creators would need.
The latest figures show that “Avatar: The Way of Water” earned a result of $434.5 million worldwide in its first weekend. Only within the United States the production earned $134 million.
Thus, it is the third best result of a Hollywood film released during Pandemic (just behind the $442 million for “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”) and second highest global opening in 2022.
Beyond the US, production was most popular in China ($57.1 million), South Korea ($24.7 million ), Germany ($20 million), France ($19.3 million) and India ($18.1 million). Viewers primarily opted for 3D screenings.
The analysts estimate that “Avatar: The Way of Water” performed 82% better than “Top Gun: Maverick” during the weekend and did 42% better than “Jurassic World: Dominion,” but did not beat the interest in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
The numbers indicated look quite promising, but it must be emphasized that forecasts were even higher. A big challenge for James Cameron’s story is the situation in China, where the estimates pointed to the acquisition of about $100 million in the first weekend of its release, in the meantime the pandemic restrictions had affected the audience attendance in cinemas.
