With $1.4 billion in worldwide ticket sales after a few weeks in theaters, Disney and 20th Century’s high-budget epic “Avatar: The Way of Water” becomes the highest grossing film of 2022.
James Cameron’s sequel has so far brought in $444 million domestically and $956 million overseas. The “Avatar” sequel is anticipated to make significant box office gains over the next few days, despite the harsh weather in North America and the mounting flu & COVID rates throughout the globe. The $250 million budgeted tentpole surpasses the $1 billion mark by the end of the year. Only two other movies in 2022 have been able to surpass it: “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Jurassic World Dominion.”
The 13-year-old sequel faces an enormous challenge because its renowned predecessor, 2009’s Avatar, presently holds the record for the highest-grossing film at the box office with nearly $2.9 billion. The Way of Water must surpass Avatar‘s lifetime earnings in order to be deemed a success,
According to Cameron, the film’s director, it must “be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history” in order to break even. It’s crucial to remember that Avatar had several re-releases throughout the years, including one earlier this year that helped the movie reach that $2.9 billion milestone.
The highest grossing country outside of North America for “Avatar 2” has been China with $100.5 million, followed by Korea ($53 million), France ($52.3 million), India ($37 million), and Germany ($35.7 million). There are a number of reasons why the sequel will find it difficult to match the success of the first movie. For starters, the global box office hasn’t entirely recovered from the pandemic, and significant markets like China are seeing a resurgence on COVID infections. Additionally, the sequel won’t be seen in Russia, where the first movie made $116 million.
Despite the challenges, The Way of Water certainly lived up to its promise of spectacle and box office dominance.
If you haven’t seen the Avatar sequel, take a look at the trailer below: