Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here. Christmas is just around the corner now but the news doesn’t let up. Let’s begin. Coming to a cinema near you: Much has been said of people’s propensity to return to cinemas as the world has stepped out of the Covid-19 pandemic and this is being put to the test this coming weekend with Avatar: The Way of Water’s global opening.
Per a string of analysis pieces from our Box Office gurus Nancy Tartaglione and Anthony D’Alessandro, James Cameron’s sequel 13 years on from its record-breaking predecessor is on track for $525M in what is Disney’s widest global release ever at 52K screens, surpassing Avengers: Endgame.
A reminder: The first Avatar took $2.9B worldwide, which to this day remains the highest-grossing release of all time. Things are very different nowadays and Anthony points out in a piece about The Way of Water’s Thursday takings that fans will flock to the film via appointment viewing, which will mean the movie holds weekend to weekend. “Moviegoers seeing Avatar 2 want the perfect seat, perfect time, perfect format,” he writes.
Premium format viewings are understood to be hard to come by in LA, NYC and Phoenix. Of that $525M, around $350M is predicted to come from overseas, with $100M of this chunk in China.
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