'Avatar' sequel crosses $1B in global grosses in two weeks
Avatar: The Way of Water has surpassed the $1B milestone at the global box office, Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) says.
That comes after just 14 days of release, making it the sixth film ever to hit that worldwide mark in two weeks (and Disney now claims four of those films). It's the first to do so that quickly since last December, when Spider-Man: No Way Home (SONY) achieved the milestone.
With a general 30%/70% split, the film has made more than $300M of that worldwide total in North America. The $700M-plus coming overseas is particularly impressive considering ongoing COVID-19 impact holding down revenues in China, which have reached just $108M so far.
It also hit the billion-dollar mark about five days faster than its predecessor, 2009's Avatar - the all-time box-office champ with a total of $2.92B in global grosses.
The incredibly expensive Avatar sequel needs this kind of success to end up in the black; director James Cameron has said that it would need to be one of the top three grossing films of all time to turn a profit. (Currently, the third-highest global grosser in history is Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, with $2.2B).
And it's currently facing lackluster competition from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (CMCSA), Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody (SONY) and Babylon (PARA) (PARAA).
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