Movies

‘Avatar 2’ undercuts box office forecast with $134 million domestic debut

December 19, 2022

Cinemark Chairman and CEO Sean Gamble discusses the opening of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, the long-awaited sequel to the world’s highest-grossing film on ‘The Claman Countdown’.

“Avatar: The Way of the Water” dipped below box office expectations after the film’s opening weekend.

The “Avatar” sequel grossed $134 million in North American theaters and $300.5 million internationally for a world premiere of $434.5 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

Going into the weekend, many were expecting a domestic debut of at least $150 million. Some even said $175 or more, but tracking hasn’t been such a reliable metric during the pandemic either.

The “Avatar” sequel tied with “The Batman” as the fourth-biggest domestic debut this year.

“Avatar 2” fell short of expectations for its domestic debut. (20th Century Studios via AP/AP Newsroom)

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In third was “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which grossed $144.2 million in July. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” grossed $181 million in November and the biggest domestic debut of 2022 was “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which grossed $187.4 million in May.

Disney saw early on that “The Way of Water” was going to be a different kind of beast when they looked at pre-sales.

For a normal, spoiler-rich movie like many Marvel deals, post-opening weekend sales are typically around 5%. For “La Voie de l’Eau”, they were at 20%. In other words, the company knew the tracking was overdone.

“Avatar: The Way of the Water” earned $134 domestically on opening weekend. (20th Century Studios via AP/AP Newsroom)

“We’ve got a terrific movie playing across all demographics and (a) terrific word-of-mouth,” said Tony Chambers, Walt Disney Co.’s executive vice president for theatrical distribution. “We have the screens and we have a clear race. It’s not about opening day or opening weekend. It’s about the whole race.”

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“Avatar: The Way of Water” was released in 4,202 theaters on more than 12,000 screens, including 400 in IMAX 3D. The studio and filmmakers have bet big on the appeal, and the higher prices, of the 3D format and premium large screens.

An estimated 66% of the $435 million in opening weekend revenue came from worldwide 3D ticket sales.

“Avatar: The Way of the Water” was released on Friday. (20th Century Studios via AP/AP Images)

The James Cameron-directed film arrived 13 years after the original film, and the second film isn’t the end of the franchise.

Cameron plans to release a third film in 2024 and a fourth in 2026. Scripts have already been written for the upcoming films, and the director told Collider that the script for “Avatar 4” was the only one that did not receive a single note. studio executives.

James Cameron has revealed that there will be two more “Avatar” films. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Disney/Getty Images)

Apart from the “Avatar” films, Cameron has directed a number of other films such as “The Terminator”, “Aliens” and “Titanic”. It won three Oscars between “Titanic” and the first “Avatar” movie.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.