No record start: Why Avatar 2 can still be one of the most successful films of all time

Avatar – The Way of Water is considered the big highlight of the cinema year 2022. After the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, something like normality is slowly returning to cinema operations. Despite the winter season, cinemas in the USA remain open. Perfect conditions for a successful start weekend. But although Avatar-The Way of Water effortlessly claimed first place in the USA, no records are forthcoming. After the first three days, only the sixth best theatrical release of December was recorded. Nevertheless, Avatar 2 could become one of the most successful films in the history of cinema.

That’s how successful the theatrical launch of Avatar 2 was in the USA

The first numbers of the past weekend are pouring in and paint the picture of a successful theatrical release of Avatar – The Way of Water, which, however, cannot set any records. In the USA, the successor to the most successful film of all time played proudly $135 million a. This is well below the estimates $150 to $175 million had forecast.

This box office result is indeed dramatically higher than that $77 million from Avatar 1 in December 2009, but is clearly behind Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesswho this year with $187 million started. Despite the lack of records, the first three days at the box office of Avatar – The Way of Water can certainly give cause for optimism.

Why Avatar 2 could become one of the most successful films of all time

The first weekend is the most important of a movie. After that, the number of visitors, especially for big blockbusters, went downhill more and more rapidly. Exceptions prove the rule and that’s how we made it, for example Top Gun: Maverick to become the fifth most successful feature film in the history of US cinemas this summer, thanks to positive word-of-mouth and constant streams of visitors.

You also trust something similar Avatar-The Way of Water to. Part 1 stayed in the cinema charts for an incredibly long time. And already within the first three days, a consistency in the number of visitors can be sensed, which indicates an extremely successful “run”. only the extremely long running time of 192 minutes could get in the way of James Cameron’s new masterpiece. The longer cinema films last, the fewer performances a cinema can show per day.