Avatar Returns to the Top of the Worldwide Box Office With $30.5 Million in First Weekend of Re-Release

Avatar has returned to the top of the worldwide box office 13 years after its initial release. Returning to theaters this weekend in anticipation of the upcoming sequel, Avatar added another $30.5 million to its lifetime box office total, with $10 million of that coming from North America and $20.5 million coming from international markets. Avatar is already the highest-grossing film of all time, meaning this is only adding to its record-setting gross. The film opened in first place at the box office in France, Italy, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Oman, Qatar, Romania, Slovenia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Ecuador and in the third-place spot at the domestic box office, playing in 1,860 theaters.

Avatar debuted in 2009. Some viewers remain skeptical about whether the film deserves a sequel, with Avatar‘s cultural cache becoming a point of debate on social media. Speaking to Empire Magazine in July, director James Cameron got candid with his feelings about the film’s reputation. He remains convinced that most critics don’t truly remember the movie, saying they typically change their tune after rewatching the film. 

“The trolls will have it that nobody gives a shit and they can’t remember the characters’ names or one damn thing that happened in the movie,” Cameron said. “Then they see the movie again and go, ‘Oh, okay, excuse me, let me just shut the fuck up right now.’ So I’m not worried about that.”

Cameron also has little patience for people complaining about how long the movie is, especially given the popularity of streaming television. “I don’t want anybody whining about length when they sit and binge-watch [television] for eight hours,” he says. “I can almost write this part of the review. ‘The agonisingly long three-hour movie…’ It’s like, give me a fucking break. I’ve watched my kids sit and do five one-hour episodes in a row. Here’s the big social paradigm shift that has to happen: it’s okay to get up and go pee.”

In Avatar, “on the lush alien world of Pandora live the Na’vi, beings who appear primitive but are highly evolved. Because the planet’s environment is poisonous, human/Na’vi hybrids, called Avatars, must link to human minds to allow for free movement on Pandora. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paralyzed former Marine, becomes mobile again through one such Avatar and falls in love with a Na’vi woman (Zoe Saldana). As a bond with her grows, he is drawn into a battle for the survival of her world.”

James Cameron wrote and directed Avatar. The film stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver.

Avatar is in theaters now. Avatar: The Way of Water opens on December 16th.