Avatar: The Way of Water
Courtesy: Disney Co.
Disney’s Avatar: The Last Airbender has crossed $2 billion at the global box office, making it the third James Cameron film to reach that milestone.
Only five other films have achieved that feat – the original Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Cameron’s Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Infinity War.
As of Sunday, “Water Road” had grossed $598 million in domestic ticket sales and $1.426 billion in foreign markets. The film is the sixth highest-grossing film of all time and is likely to climb up the rankings as its theatrical release continues.
“The film has now joined that extremely exclusive box office club and made it look almost effortless,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
The box office has struggled to recover from the pandemic as audiences turned to watching more at home and fewer films hit the big screen. As the industry recovers, movies like Water Road have proven that moviegoers are eager to return for big blockbusters. And many are willing to pay for premium screenings like IMAX or large format screens, which often come with a higher price tag.
Although “Water Road” had a more muted than expected screening in China, the result of a spike in Covid numbers and hospitalizations due to the virus, it generated strong ticket sales from France, Germany and Korea.
Reaching the $2 billion mark bodes well for the Avatar franchise, which has three more installments slated for release over the next five years. It also meets the goal set by Cameron, who previously said the film would need to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film of all time just to break even.
“In keeping with Cameron’s ‘king of the box office’ career trajectory, it should come as no surprise that the justification for completing the director’s vision for the world of Pandora is now indisputably secured and endorsed by enthusiastic fans around the globe.” , Dergarabedian said.
It is unclear what the film’s production budget was, although estimates range from $250 million to $350 million, not including marketing costs.
“Water Road” should continue to generate solid revenue at the box office as it has no direct competition in theaters until mid-February when Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” another Disney production, is released.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that “Water Road” is the third James Cameron film to gross $2 billion at the global box office.
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