Hidden at the end of THR’s reporting, “Avatar: The Way of Water” might be the most expensive movie ever made. Nobody has spoken about this yet. Its original price tag was said to be at around $250 million, but it seems has though the budget ballooned during COVID.
The estimate is now at $350-$400 million in production costs. This is not counting the onslaught of advertisement/marketing that will back James Cameron’s 192 minute epic. This would beat previous record holders “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
With that being said, I’m trying to wrap my head around Cameron saying that to “break even” his sequel would have to be the fourth highest grossing film of all-time. I always suspected that he meant domestically, and that makes more sense to me with the $400 million price tag + marketing.
Funny tidbit, when pressed by a Fox Executive, who begged him to make The Way of Water’s 192-minute runtime shorter, Cameron admitted to yelling at him “Get the Fuck out of my office!”