After thirteen years of speculation, rumors and above all a lot of patience,the time has finally come: Avatar: The Way of Water finally in theaters. Butcan the film do the impossible and pave the way for the next two sequels?
James Cameron’s plans are ambitious. The 68-year-old filmmaker is after TheWay of Water far from finished. He already has plans for a third, fourth andeven fifth Avatar movie. The best man has even filmed parts of the thirdsequel.
Avatar: The Way of Water
But yes, first The Way of Water to do the impossible. The sequel to theiconic 2009 3D film had a reported budget of $400 million, before marketingand other costs. Or, as Cameron himself recently put it: “ The Way of Water_has to end up as the third or fourth greatest movie of all time to _breakeven to turn.”
That amounts to one box office of about $2 billion worldwide. By comparison,the first Avatar is the biggest movie of all time at $2.9 billion worldwide.But yes, that was only after a rerelease. A little success is therefore not anoption. The Way of Water must become a mega hit to recoup costs, andespecially to guarantee a green light for the next films.
Made up the balance sheet
Anyway, it’s Monday, so we can take stock. Avatar: The Way of Water has nowrun in the cinemas for one weekend. After debuting in 52 markets, including arare release in China, James Cameron’s blockbuster has grossed $435 million todate.
Cameron just doesn’t know that yet Doctor Strange in the Multiverse ofMadness trump, the film with the best opening weekend of this year. Marvel’sadventure scored one in its first few days box office of $442 million.
Do not panic
Overall scores The Way of Water just less than analysts had expected. Theycounted on at least $450 million. Cameron needn’t panic just yet, though. Farfrom. The original Avatar “only” raked in $77 million in its first weekend inthe United States. Thanks to the extra expensive 3D tickets and consumers whokept coming back, that movie eventually became the iconic success story weknow today. After all, Cameron’s films are known for that: staying power asthey call it in Hollywood.
“The future of the Pandora will not be decided this weekend,” said PaulDergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “It will be determined in thecoming weeks as the movie plays, and we will see, I think, strong numbers weekafter week.” Plus, we’re still talking about the second biggest movie of 2022to date.
The cast of Avatar 2: These are the actors behind the blue CGI aliens
JamesCameron (Image: Disney)
Premature conclusions
Shawn Robbins, chief media analyst at BoxOffice.com, also warns that weshouldn’t jump to conclusions: “It’s premature at this stage to determine theextent of the film’s success, especially given Cameron’s history of longglobal runs. box office. ”
The Way of Water in any case, you get all the space. Only on February 17will a blockbuster of a comparable caliber come to the cinema. Then we’retalking about Marvel’s Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Moreover, theChristmas holidays will also provide a significant boost. So wait a littlelonger. Fortunately, we still have plenty of time: the third promised Avatarmovie is only scheduled for December 20, 2024.
Rotten Tomatoes
On Rotten Tomatoes must The Way of Water doing it with a score of 78 percentat the time of writing, after 317 reviews. In comparison: for the first film,the counter is at 82 percent, after 334 reviews. However, given the curse thatoften rests on sequels, this is only good news: both blockbusters are spacious_Certified Fresh._