It was not a great start Thursday and Friday for “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” which is on pace to make $50M less than its predecessor, “The Way of Water,” on opening weekend. Uh oh.
That’s a $24M Friday for ‘Fire and Ash.’ This one is set to debut at $85M+ domestically by Sunday. Its worldwide numbers are expected to land around the $340M-$350M mark, which is a little less than what was expected yesterday.
In contrast, ‘The Way of Water’ opened with $134M domestically and eventually earned $2.3 billion worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film ever. ‘Fire and Ash’ will need those legs.
The biggest hurdle for it is that it’s the least well-received instalment of the franchise by critics. The good news is that the film earned an “A” CinemaScore grade, which means it does have a shot at word-of-mouth-driven legs. Next weekend will be very interesting and could very well signal whether this $400M+ costing movie will make a profit for Disney.
Now, it’s your turn, our readers, to weigh in on this film, what did you think? Is the critical consensus correct in assuming that this is the weakest film of the franchise? It's currently tally is a lukewarm 59 on Metacritic and 67% on Rotten Tomatoes,
My thoughts? The most accurate word to describe this third entry in the franchise is dull. I say that reluctantly, because I genuinely wanted to like this movie. Sadly, I’m just not that into ‘Avatar’ as a whole. What Cameron delivers feels like The Way of Water 2.0, beat for beat, only longer, louder, and far more exhausting. It’s the kind of sequel that makes you wonder whether this saga has finally run out of oxygen—unless, of course, it clears another $2 billion at the box office, in which case Avatar 4 is all but inevitable.
Post your reviews in the comments below.
Reeves is supposed to direct, David E. Kelley is writing, and just like that, Apple got cold feet — the usual “creative differences” excuse is being cited in the report, and maybe that was indeed the case.