“Avatar: The Way of Water” has finally opened all around the world. In the US, its $17 million in Thursday previews has had some people taking.
These preview earnings place ‘Way of Water’ as the 36th highest Thursday total ever. The movie cost $300- 350 million to make and has been in development for close to 12 years.
Disney-Fox are supposedly lowballing estimates, hoping to say on Monday that the movie “overperformed.” What’s really going on here is a mixture of factors: very bad weather in the Northeast, good but not great reviews and far less interest, at least when compared to the first “Avatar” movie.
IndieWire’s always-reliable Tom Brueggemann says the Thursday figures are “lower than expected,” but there’s a catch. You will read a lot about how Disney’s goal for ‘The Way of Water’ is not a frontloaded box-office weekend, but, much like the first “Avatar”, longevity on a week-by-week basis. That is the possibility Brueggemann is selling. I somewhat buy it.
However, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” opened to $260 million on this same weekend slot last year, doesn’t anything under $200 million seem like a disappointment at this point? It’s playing in just about every screen available in multiplexes across the country.