Avatar 2: Expectation 2 Billion, What Went Wrong?

James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) still remains the biggest hit ever, with collections close to $3 billion. Only five films in the history of cinema have crossed the $2 Billion mark. Avatar, Avengers: End game, Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Infinity War.

Avatar’s sequel, titled Avatar: The Way Of Water, was expected to join this list of films that crossed the $2 billion mark. But it looks like that will remain an impossible dream.

Avatar 2 earned a domestic weekend gross of $134 million, and it held up quite well on Monday with $16.2 million. The global collections till now stand at around $500 M after five days. At the pace at which it is going, it would be tough for the film to reach the $2 Billion worldwide mark.

So now the question is, will it at least become the biggest grosser of 2022 by beating Top Gun: Maverick which collected around $1.48 Billion?

So, what went wrong?

Avatar: The Way Of Water received mixed reviews from the audience as the novelty factor was missing. Also, the first part didn’t end on a cliffhanger for the audience to look forward to its sequel. The film’s lengthy runtime also posed a hurdle which meant the shows would be reduced.

But optimists say that Avatar isn’t a front-loaded film like Avengers. It’s a film that will have long legs and will continue to cash in on the Christmas holiday season and will have a strong run for 4-5 weeks. The family audience has loved the film, and they will be patronizing the film in a huge way for the next few weekends. They say Avatar 2 cannot be written off so soon.

In India, Avatar: The Way Of Water has crossed the 160 mark in 5 days and is heading for a 190-crore net in its first week. It will be interesting to see if it can become another 300-crore film in India. If this week’s Bollywood release, Cirkus, fails to take off, then it really does have a chance.