credit: Avatar: The Way of Water
Well, now is the best time to admit that many of us have secretly been waiting to see the Box Office opening weekend numbers of Avatar: The Way of Water. If you’re playing catch-up, this is why eyes have been on the numbers all weekend. In the last months, writer/director James Cameron has taken swipes at Marvel and their Marvel Cinematic Universe superheroes.
Irrespective of which side of the divide you’ve been on, last weekend’s Box Office numbers have laid to rest any arguments about Marvel’s standards compared to Avatars’. However, there’s no doubt that Avatar and the MCU have had Box Office smashing numbers that make them kings in their rights in the movie industry.
So how did Avatar: The Way of Water perform?
Credit: Avatar: The Way of Water
Avatar: The Way of Water did impressively on its opening weekend at the Box Office on a typical day. Going by the revenue estimates reported by The Numbers, the film made a staggering $134 million over the weekend in the United States and Canada. With this number, the film surpassed the opening weekend numbers of its predecessor, the 2009 Avatar. Avatar (2009) grossed $77,025,481 in its opening weekend against $134 million made by its sequel.
However, none of that seems to matter if the bone of contention is comparing both movies with the MCU. To put things in a better perspective, the MCU released three movies this year – Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, Thor: Love And Thunder, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Yet, James Sequel wasn’t able to surpass any of the movies.
The movie is in fifth place on the Top 5 biggest opening weekends in 2022. This puts it behind all three MCU movies, which made $187.4 million, $144.2 million, and $181.3 million, respectively, as named above. But what does this mean for the film’s future earnings? In all honesty, absolutely nothing.
Box Office expectations
credit: Avatar: The Way of Water
Regarding revenue expectations, it’s much more than a guessing game. So, an excellent way to predict the future of James Cameron’s latest film is to look at the Box Office trends of some of this year’s highest-grossing movies. A good example is Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick.
The long-awaited sequel of the 1986 Top Gun made $160.5 million over a long holiday weekend. The four-day weekend numbers can be compared to Cameron’s three-day weekend. However, Top Gun: Maverick became the highest-grossing movie in 2022, with no film in sight (especially with just a few days left in the year) to dethrone it.
Consequently, since its release on December 16, the movie has so far grossed $434.5 million worldwide within four days. This has almost broken even the film’s $350-460 million budget. Yet, in all of these, we haven’t factored that the Avatar franchise has a massive overseas fanbase, especially in a market as large as China. So again, we can only keep our fingers crossed.
Can upcoming movies in 2022 dent Avatar: The Way of Water earnings?
As much as one tries not to be too cocky, it’s difficult not to give James Cameron his earned accolades. After making the highest-grossing movie of all time, Titanic, for years, he broke his record with the first movie installment of Avatar. It would seem a far-reaching feat for any movie to beat Its sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water. But nothing is ultimately impossible when it comes to movies.
Movie fans are looking forward to the release of Puss In Boots: The Last Wish on December 21 and the star-studded film Babylon on December 23.
Do you believe these movies stand a chance against Avatar: The Way of Water?
Follow Us
