WEDNESDAY UPDATE: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has officially topped the $1B global mark. As we wrote yesterday (see below), the 20th Century Studios/Disney sequel got to the milestone with Tuesday’s grosses. This benchmark has been met in just 14 days of worldwide release.
20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water now has bragging rights to being the fastest to $1B since Spider-Man: No Way Home last December, and the quickest to the mark in 2022. It has also become only the 6th film ever to cross $1B in the first two weeks of release, and the 4th Disney release to do so.
Tuesday gave the Na’vi $50.8M from offshore markets for a $712.7M running overseas cume, while domestic reached $317.1M. The worldwide total through Tuesday is $1,029.8M.
With that global tally, WoW has topped Jurassic World Dominion to become the No. 2 release of 2022 and the No. 3 release of the pandemic era. Internationally, it is closing in on Top Gun: Maverick’s $770M cume which, once crossed, would make the sci-fi sequel the biggest overseas release of 2022 and second biggest studio title of the pandemic era.
Midweeks are again very strong and should continue that way. The international total for Tuesday was on par with that of Monday, and France again saw its highest day to date. The market has surpassed 5M admissions.
Not included in the totals above, China on Wednesday added an estimated $3.6M for a $112.3M cume. Ticketing platform Maoyan has again increased its projection for a final gross of approximately $170M. In Korea, the Wednesday was an estimated $2.1M for a $60.5M running total.
Here are the Top 10 markets through Tuesday: China ($108.2M), France ($68.2M), Korea ($57.4M), Germany ($46.5M), India ($40.7M), UK ($37.2M), Mexico ($29.5M), Australia ($25.2M), Italy ($23.8M) and Spain ($20.3M).
PREVIOUS, TUESDAY: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water is close on its way to the $1B global box office mark, having more than handily crossed $900M worldwide through its second Monday. This is the latest benchmark for the highly-anticipated sequel, and comes just 13 days after global rollout began. With $955.1M through Monday, The Way of Water has become the No. 3 highest-grosser of 2022 and the No. 4 biggest film of the pandemic era. What’s more, it is expected to hit the $1B worldwide milestone with today’s turnout.
Through Monday, the split is $293.2M domestic and $661.9M at the international box office. Internationally, Way of Water now stands as the No. 2 release of 2022 and No. 3 studio title of the pandemic era.
Midweeks last week were very strong and the sci-fi epic is continuing that trend this week with vacations in full swing and a lot of holiday distractions in the rear-view. France and Italy, for example, saw their best days of play on this week’s Monday since the film opened.
Monday’s total offshore haul was $52.2M, domestic’s was $31.5M.
The Top 5 overseas markets through Monday are China ($104.5M), France ($60.5M), Korea ($55.4M), Germany ($41.5M) and India ($39.2M).
On Tuesday, and not included in the totals above, the 20th Century Studios/Disney sci-fi epic rose to a running cume of $108.7M in China per local estimates. Ticketing service Maoyan has again increased its projections, now seeing a $170M final. In Korea, local estimates bring the cume through Tuesday to $58.2M.