'Avatar: The Way of Water' Brings In Over $441 Million Globally For Opening Weekend

In light of tracking and ticket presales, the new sequel from filmmaker James Cameron, "Avatar: The Way of Water," making a lot of money was not in doubt. It was merely a question of how much. Now that the dust has settled, it looks like "Avatar: The Way of Water" has brought in $441.6 million worldwide for its opening weekend, per Deadline.

That opening weekend includes about $134 million from its domestic opening weekend take, as reported by Box Office Mojo.

Deadline notes that the $300 million+ overseas receipts for "The Way of Water" give the film the third biggest global weekend of any major Hollywood release during the pandemic, behind only "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" which brought in $442 million globally. It also has the second-biggest global opening weekend of 2022.

"The Way of Water" is meant to be the first of four planned sequels to the blockbuster juggernaut franchise. Considering that the original "Avatar" ended up making $749 million domestically and $2.74 billion worldwide in its original domestic run, expectations for the sequel were sky-high, and the opening weekend of the sequel fell short of its initial projections of a domestic opening weekend in the range of $150 million to $170 million.

The good news in favor of "The Way of Water" is that it does not have a ton of strenuous competition coming out over the busy holiday weeks for Christmas and New Year's. The only other major theatrical releases coming out on December 23 are "Babylon" from Paramount and "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" from DreamWorks Animation.

While those films might offer some decent counter-programming to "Avatar," they are unlikely to unseat the Cameron sequel from atop the box office charts. So, "The Way of Water" still has time to make more money.

Additionally, "The Way of Water" still had the fifth-biggest opening of 2022, still higher than "Top Gun: Maverick," which made $127 million for its opening three-day weekend. The long-awaited sequel starring Tom Cruise went on to gross $718 million domestically and $1.488 billion worldwide.

"The Way of Water" fared moderately well with critics, scoring a 78% certified fresh rating with Rotten Tomatoes, and it currently has a 94% audience rating. The film's word of mouth and rating among general audiences will ultimately determine possible repeat viewings and its performance in later weeks.

The original "Avatar" released in 2009 only made $77 million for its opening weekend during a similar time of the year, so it's not necessarily all doom and gloom for "The Way of Water" just yet. However, one concern for the sequel is its hefty cost. Deadline also reports that non-Disney sources are claiming a cost of around $460 million before prints and advertising.

Granted, Cameron as a filmmaker has always pushed the edges of absurdity with his giant budgets going back decades of his career. At the time, "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" cost $105 million, which was seen as insane for its time. "Titanic" cost a then-unheard-of $200 million for its time. Both films went on to become very successful, as did the original "Avatar."

"Avatar: The Way of Water" is directed by Cameron and written from a script he co-wrote with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It's playing now in theaters.