Avatar: The Way of Water generated $95.5 million in domestic ticket sales over the long weekend, surpassing Walt Disney Co.’s projections.
(Bloomberg) — Avatar: The Way of Water generated $95.5 million in domestic ticket sales over the long weekend, surpassing Walt Disney Co.’s projections.
The North American total easily exceeded the $82 million estimate from the entertainment giant, despite weather-related challenges. Many theaters were closed after blizzards knocked out power throughout the US early in the weekend. Monday accounted for about a third of the total.
Overall, the sequel to the 2009 sci-fi epic has made about $955 million globally, Disney said. Director James Cameron has said the movie — one of the most expensive ever made — needs to take in $2 billion in ticket sales to break even. The first Avatar sold almost $3 billion of tickets.
The domestic box office is still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, which closed theaters and halted production of new films for months in 2020. Domestic theaters had sold $7.2 billion in tickets this year through Dec. 25, compared with $11.4 billion for all of 2019, according to data from Comscore Inc.
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