Avatar 2 Launches With $15 Million at International Box Office

Avatar: The Way of Water notched a $15.8 million International Box Office launch this week. In 15 markets, James Cameron’s highly-anticipated sequel is already playing and the first returns are encouraging. Currently, the movie is tracking 124% ahead of its predecessor. However, wilder still is the fact that it’s 70% ahead of juggernaut Top Gun: Maverick in the early going too. A lot of this early success can be drawn down to the movie’s availability in China. Numerous blockbuster films didn’t get a release in the country. (Fans will remember that the territory was a major force for the first film as it provided more than $100 million in returns on its own.) This week Korea is the market where The Way of Water has managed to make the most headway. $3.3 million from one place in just a day is nothing to sneeze at. It’s no secret that Disney wants this to be a massive moment for the company. Avatar and its sequel have been a massive financial commitment and have to bring in at least a couple billion dollars to justify the spend. 

If you’re looking to enter the waters of Pandora with Cameron and his stars, Zoe Saldana has a word of warning. She told Kevin McCarthy that fans should be ready with a box of tissues, because things get pretty emotional. As you would expect with that lengthy 3 hour runtime, there’s a ton of drama for people to dissect and get worked up over. And that’s without even thinking about the staggering visual displays.

“He was finally able to crack that challenge,” Saldana shared. “That whole thing that you can’t imitate water virtually through performance capture. That was just a challenge that he had taken upon himself, and it took him years, and he did it. It’s powerful, it’s compelling. I can get choked up just talking about it.”

“I was able to see just 20 minutes of the second installment right before the year ended last year and I was speechless…I was moved to tears,” she continued. “One thing nobody really knows about Jim is that Jim is also a big crier. He really has a heart of gold, and he is a firm man and he’s very focused, but he does have a very delicate heart which is why he protects it so much. I think he’s able to have an outlet through the stories that he creates and this story is going to be compelling.”

Are you seeing Avatar: The Way of Water in the first weekend? Let us know down below in the comments!