Avatar: The Way of Water(2022).Photo: 20th Century Studios
The sequel toAvataris blowing the box office out of the water.
The new milestone comes afterThe Way of Waterpulled in $134 milliondomestically over opening weekend and another $301 million internationally, for aglobal total of $435 million, according toVariety.
By comparison, the firstAvatarmovie made around $77 million domestically over its first weekend back in December 2009, eventually bringing in a total of nearly $750 million domestically and over $2.7 billion worldwide.
PerVariety,Avatar2had the fourth-biggest opening weekend of the year. Earlier tracking previouslyestimated the film would earn$150 million to $175 million domestically and $450 million to $550 million globally with its opening, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
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Avatar: The Way of Water(2022).20th Century Studios
The sequel starsSam Worthington,Zoe Saldaña,Sigourney Weaver,Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang and more.
Avatar: The Way of Wateris about Jake (Worthington, 46) and Neytiri’s (Saldaña, 44) family and “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,” according to an official synopsis.
In April 2021,James Cameronappeared virtually onThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he spoke about the pressure of directing the highly anticipated follow-up films to the epic 2009 sci-fi blockbuster, which currently ranks as the highest-grossing film of all time.
“I cry. I just sit here at my desk and cry all day long because there’s no way,” he joked. “It’sjust too much pressure, dude.”
RELATED VIDEO: Kate Winslet Reveals Her Kids Encouraged Her to MakeAvatarSequel: “You Have to Do It!”
When asked about the budget forAvatar: The Way of Water, Cameron — whose budget for the first film was $237 million — toldGQlast month that the sequel was"very f—ing" expensive to make.
Cameron, 68, also said he told 20th Century Studios that the film was “the worst business case in movie history,” and that it would “have to be the third- or fourth-highest-grossing film in history” to “break even.”
In December 2021, the filmmaker toldEntertainment Weeklythat, given the state of moviegoing amid the pandemic and beyond, he worried whether the subsequent installmentswould be able to matchAvatar’s success.
“The big issue is: Are we going to make any damn money? Big, expensive films have got to make a lot of money,” said Cameron, who also directed box-office giantTitanic, which just celebratedits 25th anniversary. “We’re in a new world post-COVID, post-streaming. Maybe those [box office] numbers will never be seen again. Who knows? It’s alla big roll of the dice.”
Avatar: The Way of Wateris in theaters now.
source: people.com
