‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Becomes Fastest 2022 Release to hit $1 Billion Globally

In just 14 days, “Avatar: The Way of Water” has surpassed $1 billion in global ticket sales, making it the fastest film in 2022 to reach the box office milestone.

There have only been three films this year to hit the billion-dollar mark, “Top Gun: Maverick” which took 31 days to join the billions club, and “Jurassic World Dominion” which took more than four months to gain the milestone title. In comparison, there were nine films released in 2019 that surpassed $1 billion worldwide. “The Way of Water” is close to being fastest to hit the mark since 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which took 12 days.

James Cameron ‘s long awaited sequel opened in mid-December with North America earning $134 million and $435 million globally. As of right now, the Disney and 20th Century film has made a total of $1.025 billion with $317.1 million coming from North America and $712.7 million overseas.

“Avatar 2” looks to be on a good track in the new year, which is necessary with the massive price tag of the film. Not including the $100 million marketing fees, Cameron estimates the $350 million-budgeted film needs to make roughly $2 billion to break even. However, analysts believe it’ll need to be closer to $1.5 billion. “The Way of Water” has a lot of pressure on it, not just because of the price tag, but because it’s the first of three planned follow-ups in the franchise.

In 2009 when the original “Avatar” was released, it became the highest-grossing release in history with $2.97 billion globally. 13 years later, “The Way of Water” will have a hard time reaching that height since the global box office is yet to fully recover from the pandemic. Furthermore, China is having a resurgence of the virus making the major theatrical market lose out on ticket sales. Another big territory that doesn’t have access to the film is Russia.