“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.
A real shocker. There are some people you think will live forever, and Sir Patrick Stewart was one of them. The legendary actor has passed away at the age of 86. We’ve lost one of the greats.