The James Cameron sequel will be unchallenged across its second weekend.
After 13 years, James Cameron has brought audiences back to Pandora with his mega-budget, high-octane, science-fiction extravaganza Avatar: The Way of Water. Anticipation for the sequel was high ahead of its wide release on December, 16, with experts predicting huge box office numbers. Avatar: The Way of Water hasn’t disappointed those backing it to attract a vast audience, with the film at the precipice of a half a billion global gross with $497 million in box office earnings thus far. It will come as no surprise then that Variety believes Avatar: The Way of Water is poised yet again to dominate this weekend’s box office over the extended Christmas period.
Avatar: The Way of Water is projected to have a box office decline anywhere in the region of 40% to 50% from its sparkling debut, putting its prospective domestic earnings in the ballpark of $67 million to $80 million. These figures, should they bear fruit, will colossally outweigh the festive competition, but given how lean the festive cinema slate is in 2022, that was always going to be the case. Next in line to pick up the box office scraps left in Avatar: The Way of Water’s wake will be Dreamworks’ animated sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which is expected to take in between $25 million to $30 million as it rolls out across 4,000 American theaters on Wednesday, December 21. Set to be bumped into third place by Antonio Banderas‘ feline favorite will be director Damien Chazelle’s, Babylon. Babylon opens Friday, December 23, and swaps out the romantic dream chasing of Hollywood seen in Chazelle’s hit-musical La La Land, for a sordid, whirlwind through the golden age of cinema starring the likes of Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie. Chazelle’s film is set to take anywhere between $12 million to $15 million.
The projected figures for Babylon mirror those for the upcoming Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which stars Naomi Ackie as Houston and also graces theaters on December 23. With I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Avatar: The Way of Water’s festive box office competition comes to an end, but like all the films mentioned here, the Avatar sequel is competing as much with itself as it is the competition. Each film will need to gross enough to justify the investment made to produce them and attract their respective target markets to go to movie theaters. For, Avatar: The Way of Water, it looks like mission accomplished as audiences have been turning up in droves to see the film, for the likes of Babylon and its alleged $78 million budget, a $15 million opening could spell trouble.
Avatar: The Way of Water is currently available to watch in theaters, and the science fiction sequel stars the likes of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang and Kate Winslet. You can check out the trailer for the film below.
