Only in our current timeline would a movie scoring a global opening weekend north of $400 million lead to accusations that it’s a box office disaster waiting to happen, but James Cameron and Avatar: The Way of Water tend to be held to their own unique set of standards.
Recommended VideosTopping the domestic charts with a strong $134 million, the long-awaited return to Pandora may not have smashed through the half-billion barrier that was being predicted as recently as last week, but let’s not overlook the fact we’re talking about a sci-fi epic that runs for over three hours and demands to be seen in 3D at the very least, if not with the additional benefit of IMAX as well.
That means less screenings on daily basis, but even then, The Way of Water‘s opening frame was a mighty impressive one. However, thanks to the all-encompassing hype and the desire on the part of many folks to tear down the franchise, the discourse has already led to accusations that the Avatar sequel can be called a disappointment.
This post: “Almost $60M more than Avatar’s opening”
Other posts: “This movie is flopping hard” https://t.co/9yACeY0boE
— Alicia Stella (@AliciaStella) December 18, 2022I’m sort of amazed that after James Cameron delivered two MASSIVE blockbusters that opened to “just fine” opening weekends, people are legitimately ready to call AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER “a flop.”
Come find me after a month of holiday moviegoers and no competition — we’ll see. pic.twitter.com/K3qor702z5
— Jake Hamilton (@JakesTakes) December 18, 2022Sorry, avatar the way of water was a huge flop
— CHESTER (@nozchart) December 18, 2022I overestimated what Avatar: The Way of Water was going to open to, but even if it didn't match what was projected, the film is already set to have a very long life at the box office, but I'm sure people will immediately call it a flop right now because it didn't open to $200M.
— Ryan Conde (@RyanConde8) December 18, 2022
Yes, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER is the most expensive film in history, but there is no narrative in which a $134M debut ($434M worldwide) is a disappointment, especially with the extremely lucrative holiday season just beginning. Not to mention a deep box office freeze in January.
— Exhibitor Relations Co. (@ERCboxoffice) December 18, 2022Possibly but rarely does lightning strike twice in movies and Avatar 2 is making the same exact money as The Batman and that film bombed. Movies with $100M openings drop 60+% in 2nd wknd with few exceptions and I don’t see any difference here.
— Joe McCord (@jdmccord) December 18, 2022Avatar bombed https://t.co/KxwJ9ENmbd
— David (@DaviXander_) December 18, 2022exactly 😭
people been saying it’s a massive flop just because it failed to meet opening weekend expectations 😭
bruh no one flocked Avatar on its first weekend too, but it was spread out through the entire year of 2010 😭
— 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐢 (@emerituscruise) December 19, 2022Looking at the facts, Cameron’s Titanic and the first Avatar showed incredible legs at the box office, with their respective opening weekends counting for only a fraction of each film’s total earnings, which we should remind you combined for roughly $5 billion.
Is The Way of Water going to fly that high? Maybe, maybe not, but we’ll need at least a month if not longer to be able to make an educated guess as to how far it can go, because trying to write off the constantly game-changing director after a mere 72 hours is positively nuts.
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