The long, long, long-awaited sci-fi sequel,Avatar: The Way of Water, is currently on track to make it big at the box office. Predictions putAvatar: The Way of Wateropening at around $150 million domestically when it debuts in theaters next month, with further tracking (viaVariety) claiming that the movie could even reach $175 million plus. Clearly, audiences are more than ready to return to Pandora.
Avatar: The Way of Watergot a major boost earlier this weekwhen it was announced that the sequel had been approved for release in China. For context, an opening of $150 million would almost double the opening of the firstAvatarback in 2009, which managed to rake in $77 million before becoming the biggest movie of all time thanks to its $2.7 billion box office.
“Set more than a decade after the events of the first film,Avatar: The Way of Watertells the story of the Sully family, the trouble that follows them, the lengths they go to keep each other safe, the battles they fight to stay alive, and the tragedies they endure,” the official synopsis forAvatar: The Way of Waterreads.
The sequel will reunite the likes of Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, CCH Pounder, Matt Gerald, and Sigourney Weaver, while adding the likes of Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Jemaine Clement, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, Jack Champion, and CJ Jones
Related:Avatar: The Way of Water Final Trailer Brings More Stunning Teases Into James Cameron’s World
TheAvatarSequel Needs to Make it Big at the Box Office Just to Break Even
Thankfully the box office predictions forAvatar: The Way of Waterare looking good, because the sequel needs to make it big in order to be a success. In fact,Avatar: The Way of Waterneeds to make it so big as to become one of the biggest movie’s of all time…just to break even. Director James Cameron recently described the long-awaitedAvatar: The Way of Wateras “very f—ing” expensive, calling the movie “The worst business case in movie history. You have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.”
Based on these latest figures, it sounds like Cameron has nothing to worry about.Though the filmmaker does have a planshouldAvatar: The Way of Waterstruggle to find financial success. Aside from the money because, despite what movie studios would have you believe, money isn’t everything, returning star Zoe Saldaña has teased the ambition inherent inAvatar: The Way of Water. “And I do believe that this is going to be like a culmination of [James Cameron] finally getting the opportunity to fully share with us all his passion for the water, for the ocean,”she said. “He’s always had it. He had it in ‘The Abyss’ and with ‘Titanic.’ And I think that through the Metkayina tribe, and their world, we’re going to immerse ourselves in something that we have never seen before. And it will be also just as groundbreaking as ‘Avatar’ one was.”
Avatar: The Way of Wateris due for release on July 31, 2025. A further three sequels have also been given release dates, with the multiple follow-ups scheduled to be released on July 19, 2025, July 16, 2025, and June 23, 2025, respectively.
