James Cameron has done it again asAvatar: The Way of Wateredges closer to passing the one billion dollar mark in box office revenue, a rare feat since the pandemic that only select films likeTop Gun: Maverickhave achieved.
This past weekend, theAvatarsequel closed out its earnings tally at $955.2m worldwide, and with practically a full week of 2022 left, the film is expected to easily barge into billionaire territory. However, just because that figure sounds impressive it doesn’t meanThe Way of Waterhas turned a profit just yet, as before its release Cameron was quoted saying his movies would have to be “the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history” just to break even.
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According toDeadline’sreports, all that revenue can be broken down between $293.2m coming from domestic earnings and the remaining $661.9m from the rest of the world, with the added perk thatThe Way of Waterwas released in China. These numbers would already makeAvatar 2the third highest-grossing movie of 2022, only behind the aforementionedTop Gun: Maverick($1,488b) andJurassic World: Dominion($1,003b), and the fourth overall dating back to 2020 withSpider-Man: No Way Homebeing the other billion-dollar blockbuster after the pandemic.
The Way of Waterwas expected to achieve and surpass this milestone by Tuesday, and even consideringTop Gunhad an extended theatrical window and brief rerelease as opposed to practically every other contemporary movie, 2023 could seeAvatarbeatMaverick. Like the firstAvatarfilm,The Way of Waterhas marveledmost people who have seen it, thanks to Cameron’s technical prowess to depict an even more hyperrealistic version of Pandora this time around.
Of course, out of the big four billion-dollar blockbusters named above, onlyThe Way of WaterandJurassic Worldcame out in China, with the country contributing at least $150m in revenue to the latter, and possibly even more forAvatargiven the Chinese’s fondness for the franchise.No Way Homewas kept out of China’s mainland as part of censors’ seemingly anti-Marvel stance sinceAvengers: Endgame, whereasTop Gun’sbrand of militarism not only saw the film banned,Maverickeven got a canceled Chinese copycat.
WhileAvatar: The Way of Water’sfinal productionbudget is still a mystery, the ballpark estimate used by media outlets is in the $350-460m, which could turn the sequel into one of the most expensive movies ever. Considering the norm in Hollywood is marketing expenses amount to twice that amount, it’s unclear whether Cameron spoke out of context or if the movie has more hidden costs yet to be disclosed.
Avatar: The Way of Wateris currently available in theaters.
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