UPDATE: The figures in this article have been updated to reflect new box office projections.
Avatar: The Way of Water is continuing to grow in the box office in one of the final days in 2022. The film, which is a belated sequel to the 2009 smash hit Avatar, opened to a lukewarm weekend of $134 million in the domestic box office. Admittedly, it was only lukewarm compared to its own projections and the fact that director James Cameron has said that it will need to make at least $2 billion to break even, but the film has shown incredible growth, making over $1 billion worldwide in just two weeks and promising to continue its stronghold over the box office into early 2023.
Per Deadline, Avatar: The Way of Water‘s box office run took in an additional $24 million this Friday. This is a 27% boost from last Friday when the film made $19.2 million. The weekend overall is also projected to take in 7% more than last weekend (which was the Christmas holiday). The film is proving its continued staying power through these periodic week-on-week growth spurts, which also resulted in the film’s second Wednesday at the box office posting the best Wednesday of 2022.
Why Avatar: The Way of Water’s Box Office is So Strong
There are quite a few factors contributing to Avatar: The Way of Water‘s titanic box office. First and foremost is the fact that, just like the original Avatar, it is marketed as an event film that must be seen in the theaters in order to be fully appreciated. The surcharge on 3D and Premium Large Format tickets has given it a huge boost, as has the fact that many fans will want to return to theaters to see it multiple times.
However, the fact that it can show growth on individual days throughout its run is unusual, as typically a film will have its biggest days in its first week with a continual slowdown over the coming weeks. The factors contributing to this growth are many, but one that couldn’t have been predicted was the extreme weather in the American Midwest. The winter cold that struck in Avatar: The Way of Water‘s second week has been causing blackouts and making fans reluctant to leave their homes even if their local theaters are open, and as the weather lessens in certain impacted areas, audiences who have been waiting to catch the movie are likely flocking to theaters.
That atrocious Midwest weather as well as the film’s run time of over three hours (which prevents theaters from screening it quite as many times over the course of a single day) have seen Avatar: The Way of Water‘s cumulative box office total rising slowly and steadily in the domestic sphere, where it won’t be able to beat Top Gun: Maverick‘s incredible gross before the end of the year. However, it is already the No. 1 film of the year in international markets. This is partially due to it being one of the only American movies to play in China this year, a territory that always provides a huge box office boost.
Source: Deadline