‘Avatar 2’s’ $134 million domestic opening is below expectations for the box office

Avatar 2 and Box Office

Avatar 2 and Box Office; ‘Avatar 2‘ falls short of box office predictions with a $134 million domestic debut.

After its opening weekend, “Avatar: The Way of Water” has performed significantly worse than anticipated at the box office.

According to studio predictions on Sunday, the “Avatar” sequel opened to $434.5 million worldwide after taking in $134 million from North American theaters and $300.5 million from other countries.

Many predicted a domestic debut of at least $150 million heading into the weekend. Some even said $175 or more, but tracking hasn’t been a particularly reliable metric throughout the pandemic.

The fourth-highest domestic debut of the year was shared by “The Batman” and the “Avatar” sequel.

“Thor: Love and Thunder,” which brought in $144.2 million in July, came in third. The highest domestic debut in 2022 was “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which made $187.4 million in May, and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” which earned $181 million in November.

When Disney looked at pre-sales, they were able to predict that “The Way of Water” would be a unique beast.

Post-opening weekend sales for a typical, spoiler-heavy film like many Marvel productions are typically in the range of 5%. They were at 20% for “The Way of Water.” In other words, the company knew that tracking was overinflated.

“We’ve got a terrific movie that is playing across all demographics and (has) terrific word of mouth,” said Tony Chambers, the Walt Disney Co.’s executive vice president for theatrical distribution. “We’ve got the screens and we’ve got a clear run. This isn’t about the opening day or the opening weekend. This is about the entire run.”