Disney’s ‘Avatar’ sequel crosses US$1b at global box office

AVATAR: The Way of Water surpassed US$1 billion in worldwide ticket sales after two weeks in theatres, Walt Disney said.

The movie reached the sales milestone faster than Top Gun: Maverick, from Paramount Global, and Jurassic World: Dominion, from Comcast’s Universal, the only other 2022 movies to sell US$1 billion of tickets. It’s the fastest a film has made that much since Spider-Man: No Way Home a year ago, according to a statement from Disney on Wednesday (Dec 28).

The Way of Water is one of the most expensive movies ever made and will likely need to keep up a strong sales pace to break even. Director James Cameron said it needs to take in US$2 billion in ticket sales to make money. The first Avatar made almost US$3 billion at the global box office.

In the US and Canada, the sequel has crossed US$300 million in sales, Disney said. Earlier this week, the Burbank, California-based company said that the picture had generated US$95.5 million in ticket sales in those markets over the long weekend alone, far exceeding expectations given theatre closures in some states due to blizzards.

The film follows the indigenous Na’vi humanoid race that inhabits a moon called Pandora and the colonisation that threatens them. About 78 per cent of critics recommend it, according to the review site RottenTomatoes.com. BLOOMBERG