by James Cameron Avatar: The Road of Water ranked sixth with a sizable $53 million — the director’s biggest opening day ever — for the film’s domestic opening between $130 million and $150 million.
Box office analysts emphasize that modeling has become more difficult during the pandemic. And even loyal opponents believe avatar 2 will have incredibly strong legs, even if the opening weekend hits $130 million.
Overseas, the film grossed $127.1 million in its first three days, bringing its early global total to $180.1 million.
Towards the end of the week, recommended follow-up The way of water’The film’s debut will be $150 million to $175 million domestically and $450 million to $550 million globally. Overseas, the film is getting a coveted daily release schedule in China, even though the massive COVID-19 outbreak is having a major impact on the box office in that country.
Another big challenge: The film’s run time is 3 hours and 12 minutes, which results in fewer showtimes (also, the film has virtually no competition). And the 3D faucet is seeing a large portion of its business come from Imax and other high-end large-format displays, meaning some consumers don’t want to pay extra for a 3D or high-end experience. level (obviously it’s also available in 2D digital).
Either way, water path is making a notable opening ahead of the first season’s $77 million domestic debut Avatar in December 2009. The breakout film became the highest-grossing film of all time at the global box office with over $2.92 billion in ticket sales.
If the initial predictions are correct, avatar 2 will be released at the same level as the blockbuster Tom Cruise Top: Maverick Gunlaunched with $126.7 million domestically but went on to gross a staggering $1.49 billion worldwide.
Disney, home of the film’s 20th Century Studios, stressed that the success of the sequel depends more on its enduring playability, than on the huge number of openings, while noting its point of departure. the film’s brilliant scenes and A CinemaScore (2009’s Avatar similarly earned an A). Distribution sources also say pre-sale is spread out over the weekend and into the week of Christmas, rather than pre-sale.
Cameron produced water path along with his longtime Lightstorm partner Jon Landau. It stars Zoe Saldaña, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang, and again focuses on Worthington’s Sully and Saldaña’s Na’vi character, Neytiri. It begins a decade after the original and follows their family, with additional stars including franchise newcomer Kate Winslet.
Avatar: The Road of Water production cost between $350 million and $400 million (sources say it’s on the higher end). In previous interviews to promote the sequel, Cameron has indicated that it needs to gross about $2 billion to be considered a success.
More to come.
