Get ready for the Avatar Summer Tsunami. The Way of Water makes a big splash on its opening weekend.
After a 13-year wait, James Cameron’s highly anticipated second instalment in the Avatar series, Avatar: The Way of Water, has finally hit Australian cinemas.
The must-see cultural experience of the summer has delivered the perfect start on the big screen, with the film landing the third biggest opening weekend of the year in Australia with 840,000 admissions from Wednesday – Sunday last week.
Releasing in over 52 international markets, the film has hit $434.5M at the global box office since opening, $16.6M of which is at the Australian box office – a result that sees Avatar: The Way of Water outperforming the original Avatar’s Australian opening weekend box office result by +38%.
Audiences are set to build as the Christmas school holiday season kicks off. Critics and fans are in awe of Cameron’s latest blockbuster success, with the film securing an ‘A’ CinemaScore, alongside an incredible 93% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. This will drive word-of-mouth and create continued strength at the box office over the summer.
Managing Director of Val Morgan Cinema, Guy Burbidge, attributes the success of the opening weekend to the pent-up excitement of the highly anticipated film and expects Avatar: The Way of Water to continue delivering strong admissions and box office dollars across the holiday period.
“With over 840,000 Australians already indulging in this brilliant cinematic masterpiece within just 5 days, we can see that audiences have felt nothing but anticipation for Avatar: The Way of Water, and rightfully so. James Cameron has created a film nothing short of visual magic – magic that needs to be seen in cinemas.”
He adds, “Much like the performance of the original Avatar, momentum will continue to build over the summer holidays and well into the new year”
Avatar: The Way of Water is one of four sequels in the Avatar series, with the third instalment expected to be released in December 2024, and movies 4 and 5 are planned for 2026 and 2028, respectively.
*Source: CineTam December 2022 (Wed-Sun)