Box Office: 'Avatar: The Way of Water' exhales $53 million on opening day

After years of development and production, James Cameron's "Avatar" sequel has reached the light of day judgment.

"The Way of Water" from Disney and 20th Century Studios took off at the box office with a solid $53 million gross from 4,202 locations on its opening day, a figure that includes $17 million in Thursday previews. This ranks as the sixth-highest first-day gross domestic revenue of the year, lower than those earned by "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" ($90.7 million), "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($84.2 million), "Thor: Love and Thunder" ($69.5 million), "Jurassic World Dominion" ($59.5 million), and "The Batman" ($56.6 million). dollars). It's also far more than the $26.7 million opening day the first "Avatar" landed in 2009, though the sequel arrives with the benefit of Thursday previews and years of anticipation.

All eyes are on "The Way of Water" as he hopes to mount a box- abundant galley; it's not every weekend that theaters get a sequel to the highest-grossing film of all time. When the first "Avatar" landed a $77 million domestic opening in 2009, many reports were disappointed with the initial performance, pointing to the film's highly mythologized production process and Cameron's outstanding box office success with "Titanic" from 1997, then the highest-grossing film. movie ever. But with premium format underloads and phenomenal takes extending months later, "Avatar" remained strong, eventually toppling "Titanic" to break the all-time record.

With very little competition over the holidays, "The Way of Water" hopes to mount a similar word- mouth-to-mouth blockbuster. The film received high praise from some critics without being unanimously praised, currently holding an approval rating of 73% from top critics on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. The general public seems to be much more positive; the film earned an "A" rating from research firm Cinema Score, indicating strong approval among the first round of ticket buyers.

It's not just about whether Cameron's latest can fully justify his huge output of 350 million dollars budget (much less at the height of the financial success of his previous films). “The Way of Water” comes at a time when exhibitors are craving an event to do business over the holidays. Total box office receipts for the year will likely end an alarming drop from pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019. And after a propitious summer season with a variety of hits, theater foot traffic has dwindled over the past the fall season, with little other than "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" really drawing crowds.

On that note, the superhero sequel is now the second highest-grossing film in the year domestically at the box office, surpassing the $411 million gross of fellow Marvel's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." “Wakanda Forever” is set to take No. 2 on the domestic charts this weekend, projecting a haul of $5 million to bring its total North American gross to $418 million.

Universal's holiday action flick 'Violent Night' could rival 'Black Panther 2' " for money. The film is also forecasting around $5 million for the weekend, 42% less than its previous release. The total domestic gross now stands at $30 million for "Violent Night".

Disney's "Strange World" seems to take fourth place. After earning around $510,000 on Friday, domestic ticket sales are now around $30 million. It remains a disastrous performance for the animated adventure, which carries a production budget of $180 million.

Searchlight Pictures' "The Menu" will round out the top five, projecting a haul of 1.5 million dollars in its fifth weekend of release. With over $30 million in domestic ticket sales, the food comedy was one of the few specialty titles to find a significant following in recent months.