Avatar: The Way of Water became the fastest film this year to reach $1 billion (£831 million) at the global box office in just 14 days.
Despite wildly divergent reviews, the sequel, which had been delayed for so long, has been a success with audiences.
After Top Gun: The Conclusion, it is one of only three films this year to surpass $1 billion. Free thinker and Jurassic World Domain.
However, James Cameron, the film’s director, has stated that for the film to break even, it must gross $2 billion.
The events of 2009’s Avatar, which grossed $2.97 billion (£2.47 billion) at the box office, are followed by the events of this film.
Due to the continuing decline in moviegoers following the pandemic, analysts predict that the new installment will not surpass that number.
However, based on how it is currently performing, the movie is likely to surpass Top Gun: Maverick will be 2022’s biggest movie.
Critics, some of whom described The Way of Water as a “lumbering, humourless damp squib of a movie” in which “nothing meaningful happens” and “the story is really pretty stupid,” may be surprised by this news.
A “eye-popping, jaw-dropping spectacle” and a “fully immersive waking dream” were two of the more enthusiastic reviews of the film.
The first Symbol was basically a sci-fi rendition of Pocahontas – following the narrative of insatiable, colonialist people stripping the assets of a far off planet called Pandora.
It was told through the eyes of human soldier Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who fell in love with a native warrior named Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and realized the significance of Pandora’s delicately balanced ecosystem.
The spin-off is set quite a long while later, as Tarnish and Neytiri head submerged to shield their planet from one more human intrusion while endeavoring to raise a family.
Sequels that are not set in stone
Because it is the first of four planned sequels, which will be released in 2024, 2026, and 2028, there is a lot riding on how well it does at the box office.
Cameron shot “a little bit” of the fourth movie and the third movie together with The Way of Water to make sure his child actors still looked their age.
He stated, “I love Stranger Things, but you get the Stranger Things effect where they’re supposed to still be in high school, and they look like they’re 27.” He was referring to the television series.
In Symbol four, the youngster entertainers “age six years in the middle of the story on page 25,” he explained, “so I needed [to shoot] everything before then, and then everything after, we’ll do later.”
The director, whose previous works include Titanic, The Abyss, and Terminator, has acknowledged that the profitability of the films will dictate his strategies.
“The market could be telling us we’re done in three months, or we might be semi-done, meaning: ‘Okay, let’s complete the story within movie three, and not go on endlessly,’ if it’s just not profitable,” he told Total Film magazine.
“We’re in a different world now than we were when I wrote this stuff, even. It’s the one-two punch – the pandemic and streaming. Or, conversely, maybe we’ll remind people what going to the theatre is all about. This film definitely does that.”
With £25.03 million in its first two weeks of release, The Way of Water is not only the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom but also tops the global box office chart.