‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ grosses $2.117 billion at global box office
When the Avatar sequel was first announced, very few people believed in James Cameron’s ability to replicate the commercial success of the original film. Once again, Cameron has proved that it is just stupid to bet against him at the box office. Avatar: The Way of Water has officially grossed $2.117 billion at the global box office, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time.
In the lead-up to the film’s premiere, many film fans complained that Avatar had no cultural impact and that people couldn’t even remember the characters’ names. However, Cameron’s belief in the magic of the theatre experience has paid off since fans all over the world have flocked to theatres to witness the director’s latest spectacle.
During a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron opened up about his predictions for the future of the Avatar franchise: “When you have extraordinary success, you come back within the next three years. That’s just how the industry works. You come back to the well, and you build that cultural impact over time.”
While talking about the importance of franchise building in the era of Marvel, Cameron added: “Marvel had maybe 26 movies to build out a universe, with the characters cross-pollinating. So it’s an irrelevant argument. We’ll see what happens after this film.”
Avatar: The Way of Water has confirmed that James Cameron now has three films in the top five of the highest-grossing films of all time, alongside Titanic and Avatar. During an interview with Complex, the filmmaker opened up about the origin of the project.
Cameron elaborated: “I have a lot of underwater dreams, a lot of underwater dreams. And in them, sometimes I’m just seeing such amazing biomass, such amazing life. And it’s what it used to be here on Earth until we went out with our vast fishing fleets and took out 90% of the fish. But it used to be like that here, and it could be like that again. Of course, nature can rebound if we give her a chance. And, of course, that’s our guardianship role that we have to embrace and accept.”
The director also spoke about the ecocritical aspect of the film: “So maybe this movie between the lines is saying, ‘Hey, we love the ocean so much, we love being underwater. It speaks to us subconsciously almost, in this kind of dreamlike way. Let’s protect it.'”
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