It’s a race to the box office for Paramount Global and Disney/20th Century Studios, with one soaring the skies and the other wading through the waters. James Cameron’s highly anticipated sci-fi action adventure film, Avatar: The Way of Water, is quickly approaching the $2B mark thanks to its international rollout.
To date, France engulfed a whopping return of $93.7M, followed by South Korea with $75.2M. But, China showed out, amassing a total box office of $162M since it’s Dec. 16 release.
Other territories that greatly contributed to the sequel’s record-breaking feat include Germany ($67.9M), United Kingdom ($54.3M), India ($50.7M), Mexico ($37.9M), Australia ($35M), Italy ($31.2M), Spain ($29.3M), and Brazil ($24.4M).
Avatar: The Way of Water is expected to surpass Top Gun: Maverick, the original top box office performer of 2022. The Tom Cruise film held the title with a $1.49B worldwide box office, beating out other domineering No. 1 film contenders such as Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion ($1B), Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($955.8M), Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru ($939.6M), and Disney’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($822.6M).
However, it should be noted that Top Gun: Maverick nearly matched box office in domestic and international markets, while Avatar: Way of Water is fairing way better overseas to the tune of 69.1%. With that said, per reports from multiple sources, international territories will push Cameron’s film pass prior estimates giving it the coveted title of 2022’s No. 1 film worldwide.
Not bad for an epic feature film franchise that waited over a decade to come back to the silver screen.
