- James Cameron and Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” is the fifth-highest grossing movie of 2022 at the Box Office with $855 million in worldwide ticket sales since its debut on December 16.
- The sequel’s second weekend in cinemas had an estimated $56 million in domestic ticket sales, a 58% decline from its opening weekend.
- Box office observers highlighted that storms over the Christmas holiday and the chilly winter weather probably slowed domestic ticket sales.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” by Disney and James Cameron made an estimated $56 million during its second weekend in cinemas, a 58% down from its opening.
Blockbuster movies at the Box Office frequently witness a drop in ticket sales, with the majority experiencing a 50% to 70% drop. This statistic, known as the second-week decline, is frequently used as a predictor of how long a movie will last at the box office as opposed to how soon it may lose steam.
While films that reach 70% are likely to have ticket sales continuing to dramatically plummet as the movie slips from the public’s attention, those that fall below 50% are anticipated to have strong, extended runs.
Effect of Season on Box Office of Avatar:
Even though a severe winter blizzard kept people at home, James Cameron’s sci-fi sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” prevailed at the box office over Christmas.
Extreme weather is battering a significant area of the United States with subzero temperatures, strong winds, and sheets of snow, which has a negative impact on moviegoing attendance. Given that they depend on brisk attendance over the holiday season, theatre owners find 2022 to be an especially depressing conclusion. Hollywood was already worried that the weekend numbers would be impacted by Christmas Eve being on a Saturday and Christmas falling on a Sunday. A trio of new releases struggled at the box office due to the terrible weather and growing worries about cases of COVID, the RSV virus, and the flu.
New Movies Released between Christmas and New Year:
All three of the big new movies, “Babylon” from Paramount, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” from Universal and DreamWorks, and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” from Sony, together with the “Avatar” sequel, will try to catch up in the next week. Between Christmas and New Year’s, many Americans take vacations, making it a popular time to see the cinema.
Box Office of Avatar despite all the Challenging Circumstances:
“Avatar: The Way of Water” nonetheless managed to do well despite the challenging circumstances, grossing $56 million from 4,202 North American cinemas over the customary weekend. It expects to pull in $82 million from Friday through Monday, bringing its domestic total to $278 million. Similar adverse weather circumstances existed when the original “Avatar” film debuted in December 2009, but that didn’t stop it from breaking box office records over time, earning $760 million in North America and $2.92 billion worldwide.
After just 10 days in theatres, the “Avatar” sequel has earned $601 million overseas and $855.4 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest grossing film of 2022. This is due to strong weekday business. The tentpole, with a $350 million budget, hopes to surpass $1 billion by the end of the year. Only “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Jurassic World: Dominion” have achieved that feat in other films this year.
Box Office of “Babylon”:
Far from Pandora, Damien Chazelle’s R-rated film “Babylon,” which starred Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, failed with just $3.5 million from 3,343 theatres over the weekend and an expected $5.3 million through Monday. The 3-hour and 9-minute lengthy “Babylon” may not have connected on the big screen, even with the winter blues, based on the movie’s very bad start and moviegoers’ “C+” CinemaScore.
That’s an issue since it cost about $80 million to develop the film and tens of millions more to sell it, which means the Oscar contender will lose money unless revenue picks up in the next few days. The movie’s late-January overseas release ought to boost ticket sales. But unless things change drastically, “Babylon” could be the one misstep in Paramount’s otherwise surprisingly successful year at the box office, which saw smashes like “Top Gun: Maverick” and the spooky thriller “Smile.”
Franchise Entertainment Research’s David A. Gross, who oversees the over-the-top tribute to Hollywood that is “Babylon,” says there is still cause for hope. If the movie receives significant award nominations, he claims, it will gain momentum.
Box Office of “Puss in Boots”:
The sequel to “Shrek” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” which earned $11.3 million from 4,099 locations over the weekend and an anticipated $17.7 million through Monday, came in second. These additional ticket purchases would increase the movie’s domestic gross to $24.6 million since it debuted on Wednesday. Internationally, the movie brought in $32.5 million, and globally, $57.2 million. The second “Puss in Boots” intends to maintain its momentum into the next year as it won’t have any competition from family movies until “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” debuts in April 2023.
Jim Orr, president of domestic distribution at Universal, calls the movie “a lovely one, and our audience reaction numbers are excellent.” “This week is going to be fantastic.”
Comparatively, the first “Puss in Boots” debuted in 2011 to $34 million and eventually made $554 million worldwide, which was sufficient to support a sequel. Analysts believe the weather had a big role in lower-than-expected ticket sales because the sequel, with a $90 million budget, about a swashbuckling feline, received positive reviews and a “A” CinemaScore. There was anticipation that the sequel would bring in $30 million over its opening weekend.
Extreme weather has all but wiped away this opening, says Gross. With schools out for the week, the movie’s business may improve the following week.
Box Office of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”:
With a dismal $5.3 million from 3,625 theatres over the weekend and an expected $7.5 million to $9 million through Monday, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” managed to earn third place. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” and “Babylon” were expected to each make between $12 million and $15 million during the long weekend. The musical movie won’t need as much to make a profit because it cost $45 million less than the other films in broad distribution. And viewers appeared to love the film, in which Naomi Ackie portrays the late pop diva Whitney Houston, giving it a “A” CinemaScore, a positive indicator for its chances of being released on a big-screen.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” a Disney and Marvel production, is getting close to the $800 million threshold. The superhero sequel has made $425.7 million domestically and $799.5 million internationally after seven weeks.
Overall Box Office During The Weekend:
According to Comscore, the domestic box office made $86 million overall during the weekend. The predicted revenue for Christmas Day is only $34.4 million, which will make it the least profitable holiday (apart from 2020, when most cinemas were still closed).
It shouldn’t be shocking that the Christmas season was slower than usual, according to senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. Only five movies had wide distribution in December, which left the last week of the year in the dark.
Also Read:
Disney stock drops after “Avatar 2” records a $441 million globally
James Cameron Reacts to Matt Damon Losing Out on $250 Million by Rejecting ‘Avatar’ Offer
Avatar 2 Twitter Reviews: James Cameron’s Film Rocked, Enthusiasm Showed on Social Media
