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.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.