Avatar: The Way of Water Delivers Second-Best Monday Box Office of the Year

Avatar: The Way of Water has the second biggest Monday at the box office this year. In the latest returns, James Cameron’s epic sequel raked in $16.2 million and sits right behind Top Gun: Maverick‘s bonkers $33.8 million coming off of Memorial Day. Now, Minions: The Rise of Gru was the previous silver medal winner. But, Avatar’s sequel managed to squeak by its $16 million total. As it stands, The Way of Water has managed to bring in $150 million in the United States. But, across the world, the sequel is poised to pass $500 million. Not too bad for a movie that had a ton of stuff working against it. (Also had some massive breaks like being available in markets that some of the year’s other heavy-hitters could claim.) Still, it will be interesting to see where Cameron’s latest ends up sitting when the dust clears.

Challenges For Avatar 2

Cameron spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the pressures that exist around this movie. It feels like a lot of different parties have a lot of eggs in the Pandora basket. These box office returns are encouraging, but far from a guarantee of success. So, the movie has to keep stacking up profit to remain a positive investment. Before The Way of Water‘s release, there was some corporate lobbying to cut it down if possible.

“I think there was a lot of tension around length,” Cameron said when questioned about the runtime. “And because it’s a complicated linear narrative, which is the worst scenario for trying to shorten, you’ve got a complex story servicing a lot of characters, and it’s like dominos falling: This has to happen for that to happen. You’re not following a bunch of parallel plot lines in a way that you could take a lot out.”

“The hardest thing when you’re trying to shorten a film is to hold onto the things that don’t advance the plot, that are beautiful or scary or suspenseful for their own sake,” the director continued, before mentioning. “Things came out, and then if I felt the pacing was off, we put things back in.”

What Is Avatar 2 About?

Disney has a new synopsis for the spectacle.: “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.” 

Have you seen The Way of Water yet? Do you think it can meet its lofty goals? Let us know down in the comments!