SHOWBIZ BEAT MEDIA

In just 12 days, the Avatar sequel to the 2009 James Cameron original crossed over the $1 billion threshold, which means it completely demolished the Marvel movie ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ at the box office.

This holiday weekend alone, it cashed in an estimated $82.4 million in North America, as reported by Exhibitor Relations last Sunday. Its running domestic total is at $440.5 million, and overseas earning amount to $957 million. However, numbers are expected to dip as moviegoers return to work and school after the holiday break.

The storyline of the three-hour and ten-minute film revolves around Jake Sully’s family being endangered because envoys from Earth have arrived in Pandora to colonize it. The film stars Sam Worthington (Jake), Zoe Saldana (Neytiri), Sigourney Weaver (Kiri), Stephen Lang (Quaritch), Cliff Curtis (Tonowari), Joel David Moore (Norm), etc.

It currently holds a 77% “fresh” rating on the review aggregrator Rotten Tomatoes. Critics consensus says, “Narratively, it might be fairly standard stuff — but visually speaking, Avatar: The Way of Water is a stunningly immersive experience.” It has a 92% audience score and this is what they have to say: “Avatar: The Way of Water’s story is predictable, but the visual effects are so spectacular that it hardly matters.”

The film has 2 nominations at the 80th Golden Globes: Best Picture – Drama and Best Director – Motion Picture (James Cameron).

The first Avatar movie earned $2.9 billion globally, placing it at the top spot of the highest-grossing films of all time. Other films which have surpassed the $2B mark are: ‘Avengers: Endgame’ ($2.797 billion), ‘Titanic’ ($2.187 billion), ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ ($2.068 billion), and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ ($2.048 billion). Three of these films are by Canadian filmmaker James Cameron.

This will be a nice comeback movie for its lead Sam Worthingthon, as he did not have much noteworthy projects after the first Avatar, and more so after he was arrested in 2014 for assault after having punched a paparazzo, Sheng Li. His only memorable project in the last 13 years was Hacksaw Ridge (2016).

*Cover Photo/Thumbnail Photo from 20^th Century Studios