James Cameron, the creator of Avatar, created history in 2009 by taking the sci-fi epic to new heights. With its beautiful photography, jaw-dropping visual effects, and superior animation, the movie bravely forayed uncharted territory and more than earned its place in history. Avatar: The Way of Water has finally arrived in theatres after more than a decade of Cameron’s unwavering dedication to making sure the CGI was flawless, and it is already living up to his original vision.
As audiences took to the theaters in droves to appreciate Pandora’s glory, the film brought in $20 million over the weekend bringing the IMAX global total to an impressive $189.5 million. Its success has confidently cemented the movie’s place as the fourth-highest IMAX global release of all time – just 24 days after it splashed onto the silver screen. North America contributed to $6M of the weekend total, ultimately kicking the domestic IMAX sum to $67M. The film continued to soar internationally too with $14 million taken over the weekend for a total of $122 million, the third-highest international IMAX result of all time. Amongst the biggest international hitters was China, who secured $3 million, bringing its total run in the region thus far to $43 million – the third-highest IMAX China result ever. As if that wasn’t enough, the film was top performing release in 34 countries, including France, Germany and India.
Although the numbers are not insignificant, Cameron’s warning that the movie will determine the franchise’s destiny casts a deeper doubt about the sequel. Fortunately, Cameron assured fans that the movie has comfortably topped $1.54 billion at the global box office and is on schedule to break even “in the next few days.” The Way of Water became the highest-grossing movie of 2022 and the ninth-highest-grossing movie of all time after surpassing Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick, which brought in $1.49 billion.
