How Much Did Avatar 2 Cost to Make?

Avatar: The Way of Water finally arrives in theaters this weekend, continuing one of the most unique cinematic franchises of all time. The film’s financial performance has already been speculated about at length, with some projections forecasting an epic opening weekend at the box office. While we’ll ultimately have to wait and see how that shakes out, it is provoking one big question about The Way of Water — what exactly was its budget?

According to reports from The Hollywood Reporter last month, production on Avatar: The Way of Water cost within the range of $350-400 million. Reports from 2020 had indicated that the sequel, as well as the franchise’s third, cost a combined amount of $1 billion. Director James Cameron seems to corroborate that ballpark, telling GQ earlier this year that The Way of Water 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.”

Are you excited for Avatar: The Way of Water? What do you think of these new box office projections? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing exclusively in theaters.