Last weekend, I wasn’t ready to call “Avatar: The Way of Water” a “flop” because that would have been such a foolish trap to fall into. Fact of the matter is that James Cameron’s sequel has ZERO upcoming competition at the box-office, at least not until February when the “Ant-Man” sequel is released.
‘The Way of Water’ did much better on Christmas than anybody expected. Its second weekend capped off with a Sunday gross that was actually $8 million higher than projected a day earlier. The actual domestic gross was $29.5 million, not $21.5 million. The three-day weekend total was $64 million, not $54 million.
The film has now grossed $261.7M domestically. It will probably hit the $400 million mark by next Sunday and, again, will have four comfy weeks alone with no competition in theaters. IndieWire’s Tom Brueggemann is predicting a final tally of $600 million when all is said and done. Not too shabby
Still, this won’t even come close to beating the original’s numbers. Again, Brueggemann with the cold shower:
“Though the better grosses for “The Way of Water” are indeed good news, the three-day weekend still took in only $94 million. That’s 62 percent less than 2019, when ticket prices were 20 percent lower, and down more than a third from last year (with a more favorable December 24-26 calendar).”
I don’t think anybody expected ‘The Way of Water’ to beat the original’s $749 million domestic intake. Not in the current state of theatrical moviegoing. If it comes $150 million short of the original’s gross intake then let’s just call it a “win”. It would also stop short of Top Gun: Maverick’s $718 million.