Avatar: The Way of Water to Pass Spider-Man: No Way Home at Worldwide Box Office
Avatar: The Way of Water continues its box office winning streak, and is expected to pass Spider-Man: No Way Home's global box office haul this week. That will make the film the sixth-highest-grossing movie of all time, and comfortably making it profitable -- something that even the filmmakers behind it were not certain was a guarantee ahead of the film's release. With a ballooning budget and numerous delays related to both production and the Covid-19 pandemic, Avatar: The Way of Water might be the sequel to the highest-grossing movie of all time...but it also needed to crack the top ten (at least) to break even.
The smart money was always on that happening, but it as far from guaranteed. The international market, which has been cool to many U.S. releases in the post-pandemic box office, has been instrumental in elevating the movie, which has earned "just" $570.3 million in North America since releasing last month.
Avatar: The Way of Water has already cruised past $1.9 billion globally, close to Spider-Man: No Way Home's $1.9162 million global haul.
As with the first Avatar, the film has had long "legs" -- an industry term for movies that continue to perform well after the first two or three weeks of release. That's a phenomenon that has been increasingly uncommon, with even some huge hits failing to secure a third consecutive #1 at the box office.
Avatar: The Way of Water opened at more than $400 million globally, including $134.1 million in North America. That's obviously pretty huge, but it was still underperforming relative to expectations in North America, which is where those strong performances in subsequent weeks become so important.
Even in the unlikely event ht emovie had not been a gargantuan hit, there was 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.
The fact that the film has a release in China, a huge box office that has largely shunned American blockbuster in recent years, likely helps it quite a bit. While Jurassic World Dominion did hit theaters in China, Last year's #2 release (behind The Way of Water) was Top Gun: Maverick, which did not get a release in China, and neither did Marvel's 2022 movies. Spider-Man: No Way Home also did not get a Chinese release.