LOS ANGELES – Director James Cameron’s long-awaited Avatar: The Way Of Water pulled in US$17 million (S$23 million) at United States and Canadian box offices from its first showings last Thursday night, distributor Walt Disney Co said.
With international sales, the sequel to the highest-grossing movie of all time has generated US$50.4 million at theatres around the globe since the film started rolling out last Wednesday.
It is among the widest releases in Disney history, debuting on more than 12,000 screens in the US and Canada and 40,000 internationally. It is being released at the same time globally in every country, a rarity in the business.
Thursday’s domestic tally was below recent Disney release Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a Marvel superhero film that earned US$28 million on its first evening in November.
Hollywood’s big question is whether Avatar: The Way Of Water can recoup its massive production and marketing costs.
Studios split ticket sales with theatres, and Cameron told GQ magazine that The Way Of Water will need to make US$2 billion just to break even.
Sales from first-night screenings do not always correlate with the final tally, particularly around the Christmas holiday season.
Box-office experts predict The Way Of Water will play in theatres for several weeks, as the original 2009 movie did, which will be key to earning back its budget. The sequel should end the opening weekend with at least US$140 million from domestic theatres, forecasters said.
But at three hours and 12 minutes long, the film’s runtime could be limiting how many people see it because theatres cannot schedule as many screenings a day with movies that long.
The Way Of Water was released 13 years after the first film wowed audiences with pioneering 3D technology.
Avatar remains the all-time box-office champion with US$2.9 billion in global ticket sales. It became a cultural phenomenon, with its dazzling special effects ushering in a new era for 3D cinema.
Many people saw it again and again, a far broader audience than those normally interested in science-fiction films, notes Mr David Herrin, founder of the Quorum, a movie research firm. His analysis suggests the sequel is resonating strongest with men over age 35.
In the new instalment, actors Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana return as Jake Sully and Neytiri 10 years later, now parents of five children.
Their peaceful life is interrupted when the Sky People, the Na’vi name for humans, return to go after Jake. The Sully family seeks refuge with the oceanic Metkayina clan and must quickly learn the ways of the water to survive. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
