The Long Runway for Avatar The Way of Water

Reports of the demise of Avatar: The Way of Water have been greatly exaggerated. While no one has questioned the quality of the movie, movie analysts have gone bonkers over Avatar: The Way of Water grossing only $134 million last weekend.

First of all, what were they expecting? A billion gajillion dollars? For as much flack as industry critics have given Avatar: The Way of Water, it has the 2nd highest opening of the year including a better opening than Top Gun: Maverick which went on to gross over $718 million at the US box office and roughly $1.5 billion worldwide.

Considering that both of James' Cameron’s last two movies went on to become the top grossing films of all-time the bar was set inextricably high. However, an interesting point to remember is that the first Avatar didn’t even gross $100 million the first weekend.

So in actuality, Avatar The Way of Water is ahead of Avatar’s pace and ahead of the pace of that other James Cameron Blockbuster, Titanic.

The key to the worldwide gross of Avatar will be its success in China and overseas markets. The problem that China is undergoing now is that with the end of its Zero Covid policies, the country is experiencing a wave of COVID like the rest of the world had between 2020-2021. Thus we could see Chinese box office numbers artificially depressed from what they would have been.

So for all of your Avatar haters out there, calm down. The movie will be just fine. it will make a lot of money, and above all, it’s a quality film. You can’t watch the film and not be engulfed in the world that Cameron so masterfully depicts.

Also this is hands down the best use of water with CGI that we’ve ever seen (apologies to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Aquaman).

So if you haven’t seen Avatar yet, go ahead and see it. Many others will see it over and over again.