James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water has officially crossed one of the biggest milestones and earned over $2 billion worldwide.
As reported by Deadline, the Avatar sequel has thus far earned $2.024 billion at the box office and now ranks among the six highest-grossing films of all time, below only Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic and the original Avatar.
The financial success of Cameron's highly-anticipated film has endured longer than most films in theaters. It was recently reported that Avatar: The Way of Water saw a drop of 0 percent at the box office in its third weekend, which is unprecedented, even for major blockbuster films, which virtually guaranteed that it would cross the $2 billion mark.
Moreover, the film appears to have enjoyed a steady rise in China, where its premiere suffered due to a rapidly spreading coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, among other issues. The Way of Water's earnings in the territories total $229.7 million so far, which is above previous projections. Two weeks after its premiere, it was projected to earn just $143 million over the course of its run, after an initial projection of $357 million.
With its success undeniable, Cameron recently confirmed that he would be further developing Avatar 4 and 5, which he previously stated was contingent on the success of the recently-released sequel. He stated, "It looks like with the momentum that the film has now that we’ll easily pass our break even in the next few days, so it looks like I can’t wiggle out of this and I’m gonna have to do these other sequels... I know what I’m going to be doing the next six or seven years."
James Cameron Has More Avatar Ahead
The next instalment in the saga, Avatar 3, is already close to completion, as it was filmed back-to-back with The Way of Water, just as Avatar 4 and 5 will be. Details are scarce, though Cameron recently revealed it will showcase a different side to the Na'vi through the introduction of what he called the "Ash People," whose culture revolves around fire. He explained, "In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na'vi examples. In Avatar 3, we'll do the reverse."
As for Avatar 4, the film has already begun production, which Cameron confirmed all the way back in September 2022. He has not released any information but teased audiences that when he sent the script to an executive, he got one line of feedback. "When I turned in the script for [Avatar 4], the studio executive, creative executive over the films wrote me an email that said, 'Holy f**k.' And I said, 'Well, where are the notes?' And she said, 'Those are the notes,'" Cameron explained.
Avatar: The Way of Water is in theaters now.
Source: Deadline