‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ crosses $1 billion, fastest 2022 release to reach box office milestone

Meanwhile, nine movies released in 2019 surpassed $1 billion worldwide. The Way of Water is the fastest to hit the mark since 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which took 12 days. Only six movies in history have cleared $1 billion in their first two weeks of release.

James Cameron’s long-delayed sequel to Avatar opened in mid-December with $134 million in North America and $435 million globally, and it’s remained a huge draw in the days since its release. So far, the Disney and 20^th Century film has generated $317.1 million in North America and $712.7 million overseas, bringing its global tally to $1.025 billion.

It’s surpassed Jurassic World Dominion as the second highest-grossing movie of the year, and it’s the third highest of the pandemic era.

Avatar 2 looks to stay strong into the new year, which is necessary to justify its massive price tag. Cameron estimated the $350 million-budgeted movie needs to generate roughly $2 billion to break even, though analysts believe the threshold to profitability is probably closer to $1.5 billion.

There’s a lot riding on The Way of Water, not just because of its huge price tag, but also because it’s the first of three planned follow-ups in Cameron’s otherworldly series.

The original Avatar was released in 2009 and stands as the highest-grossing release in history with $2.97 billion worldwide.

The follow-up film, which arrived on the big screen 13 years later, will struggle to near those heights because the global box office hasn’t fully rebounded from the pandemic.

Moreover, China, a major theatrical market, is experiencing a resurgence of the virus.