Avatar: The Way of Water Close to Half a Billion at Global Box Office

After over a decade away, the Avatar franchise is back on the big screen once again, with Avatar: The Way of Water arriving in theaters this past weekend. The sequel's box office performance was something that was speculated about a lot in the lead-up to its release, especially as 2009's Avatar remains one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. While we'll ultimately have to wait and see how those numbers shake out, the latest metrics already have the movie crossing a major milestone. According to new reports, Avatar: The Way of Water has grossed $497.1 million at the global box office thus far, with the film expected to cross the half-billion mark on Tuesday.

Director James Cameron has hinted at The Way of Water's box office expectations, telling GQ earlier this year that the film is "very f-cking expensive", and that he told executives at Disney and 20th Century Studios that the financial gamble on it represented "the worst business case in movie history." As Cameron put it, "You have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That's your threshold. That's your break even."

What is Avatar 2 about?

Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water begins to tell the story of the Sully family, 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. The film will see the return of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, and Matt Gerald. New cast members include Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, David Thewlis, and CJ Jones.

"The goal is to tell an extremely compelling story on an emotional basis," Cameron previously shared with Total Film about The Way of Water. "I would say the emphasis in the new film is more on character, more on story, more on relationships, more on emotion. We didn't spend as much time on relationship and emotion in the first film as we do in the second film, and it's a longer film, because there's more characters to service. There's more story to service."

What do you think of Avatar: The Way of Water's latest box office numbers? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!