'Avatar: The Way of Water' on track to shatter DOMESTIC box-office records with $150M-$175M opening

How expensive is 'Avatar 2'? James Cameron feels it has to be 'third highest grossing' film to break even

The first movie opened to a bumper response domestically and grossed more than $77 million in its opening weekend. If you believe that these are small numbers, then you should realize that the film went on to earn $785.2 million in North America and became the highest-grossing movie of all time with global earnings of $2.92 billion. Of course, this included the re-releases as well. However, it is worth noticing that when the movie was released no one knew what to expect from this epic adventure. Everyone flocked to the cinema because they knew that Cameron is a brilliant filmmaker and the new technology used in the movie also excited everyone.

But the tables have turned this time around and viewers somewhat know what to expect from the movie. Also, it has taken Cameron 13 years to come out with a sequel because he wanted to get everything right and develop new technology in order to film performance-capture scenes underwater. That’s why some people believe that the movie has the potential to breach the $200 million mark in the opening weekend as well.

As of now, only 8 movies have gone on to earn more than $200 million in their opening weekends. ‘Avengers: Endgame’ tops the list with a record-breaking $357 million while ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ ($260 million) and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ ($257 million) in second and third positions. Meanwhile, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ ($247 million) and ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ ($220 million) round off the top five. Other movies to achieve the monumental feat are ‘Jurassic World’ ($208 million), ‘The Avengers’ ($207 million), and ‘Black Panther’ ($202 million).

When it comes to global numbers, the announcement of the same-day release in China is massive news for the movie. The first movie earned $260 million in that territory and the Chinese government sidelined a lot of Hollywood blockbusters when the theatres opened after the pandemic. It will undoubtedly boost the movie’s chances of earning more globally.

The movie’s runtime is reportedly 3 hours and 10 minutes, which is not a worrying sign for the film or the studio. Fans are really excited about the movie and the holiday season is coming up, which means that people will have ample time to go to the theatres and watch the sequel.

However, the production budget of the movie is so high that the movie would have to earn a lot to break even and this is what has been said by the man, James Cameron, himself. In a recent interview with GQ, the iconic filmmaker called ‘Avatar 2’ the “worst business case in movie history” because of how “expensive” it is. He also noted that the film has to become “third or fourth highest-grossing movie of all time” to break even. Now, that’s a massive challenge and Cameron is ready to take the chance.

'Avatar: The Way of Water' hits theatres on Friday, December 16th.

Will ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ break box-office records this time around? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section.