Avatar 2 Riding Another Box Office Wave After Second Thursday in Theaters

Avatar: The Way of Water has officially crossed $600 million worldwide at the box office thanks to Wednesday showings, but it turns out that Thursday was a great day for James Cameron's Avatar sequel, as well. Reports are in that Avatar 2 earned another $37.1M internationally and $14.5 domestically from Thursday showings, bringing the film's cumulative total to $464M internationally and just shy of $200 million domestically, for a cumulative total of $661.4M, one week after The Way of Water started screening in theaters. 

Avatar 2 is projected to reach upwards of $800M+ through the Christmas holiday weekend – though there are mitigating factors that could affect those numbers. 

First and foremost: large portions of the US are going to be caught in extreme winter conditions through Christmas, which could arguably lower movie theater attendance. Of course, on the other hand, if there is one film that will be enough of a draw to get people to the theater, it will be Avtar: The Way of Water. 

Will Avatar 2 Be Successful? 

The debate about Avatar 2's box office has been raging since before a single theater audience member got to see it. Even James Cameron has been upfront about how big of a big office the film needs to achieve to be profitable, while still carrying a runtime of over three hours. 

It still seems speicious to try and measure things like how Avatar 2 is pacing against Avatar 1's box office run; the simple fact of the matter is that the post-pandemic theatrical market is still unpredictable, and Avatar: The Way of Water has long runway of being the only real big theatrical blockbuster event film spectacle (especially in IMAX) until Marvel releaes Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on February 17, 2023. James Cameron knows what it is to keep a film in theaters for weeks on end rather than have it hit hard and fade quick (see: Titanic, Avatar), so this could be another case of a slow-but-steady box office victory. 

What Is Avatar: The Way of Water About?

Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family (Jake, Neytiri, and their kids), the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure. Directed by James Cameron and produced by Cameron and Jon Landau, the film stars Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, and Kate Winslet.

Avatar: The Way of Water is now showing in theaters and IMAX.