Avatar: The Way of Water Debuts in Second Place at Japanese Box Office
Avatar: The Way of Water came in second at the Japanese box office over the weekend, missing the top spot by about $500,000. The highest-grossing movie of the weekend was The First Slam Dunk, an animated movie based on the Slam Dunk manga. Avatar: The Way of Water earned $3.6 million, compared to $4.13 million for The First Slam Dunk. Avatar 2 actually opened on more screens than any non-Japanese film in the nation's history, screening on 1,466 screens. That breaks the record previously held by The Amazing Spider-Man, which opened on 1,092 screens.
The Amazing Spider-Man, though, opened at $7.445 million in Japan -- almost as much as both The First Slam Dunk and Avatar 2 together. It would be easy enough to point to COVID-related changes in the box office, but it seems more likely that Japan just didn't have the same appetite for Avatar that the rest of the world did. When The First Slam Dunk opened earlier this month, it earned nearly $10 million.
According to Variety, there were technical problems with the film, which was downscaled from 48 FPS to a more standard 24 FPS for projection in Japan. Seemingly, this process was imperfect, and that resulted in poor quality and some theaters giving refunds.
Avatar: The Way of Water opened at more than $400 million globally this weekend, including $134.1 million in North America. That's obviously pretty huge, but it is still underperforming relative to expectations, which had Disney hoping for at least a $150 million opening. That also means it clocked in lower than Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which came in second at the domestic box office this week and currently has about $480 million since its release in November. That film opened at $180 million its first weekend.
Avatar: The Way of Water has to make a lot of money to break even. It is rumored to have been so expensive, that it would need to become one of the top ten highest-grossing films of all time just to turn a profit. While a $134 million opening doesn't feel like "all-time champion" material, it's worth noting that the original Avatar didn't have a bonkers opening. Instead, it had long legs, managing to retain and even grow its audience throughout its theatrical run. There's also the reality that Disney is heavily invested in the world of Avatar, with Pandora theming at some of its parks, which means the movie itself is only part of the story.
Avatar: The Way of Water has received mostly positive reviews from critics. It has a 78% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a consensus that reads, "Narratively, it might be fairly standard stuff -- but visually speaking, Avatar: The Way of Water is a stunningly immersive experience."
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters.