'Avatar 2' Is So Expensive, It Needs to Make $2B USD to Break Even
That means it needs to, at the very least, become the fifth highest-grossing film in history.
The second Avatar film — titled Avatar: The Way of Water – has drawn much attention as the sequel is set to arrive next month after 13 years. It’s no surprise that the movie, reportedly longer than three hours, was expensive to make. When asked by GQ how much production actually costs, director James Cameron responded, “Very f-cking [expensive].”
According to the magazine, the budget for the film was so high that it represented “the worst business case in movie history. ” For Disney and 20th Century Studios to break even, the movie would have to “be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history.”
As of now, the highest-grossing films worldwide include Avatar at the very top with $2.9 billion USD. Avengers: Endgame closely follows with $2.7 billion USD, along with Titanic in third with $2.1 billion USD. In order to cover the production costs, Avatar: The Way of Water would have to make more than Star Wars: The Force Awakens at $2.07 billion USD or Avengers: Infinity Wars at $2.05 billion USD.
The most successful films of 2022 so far include Spider-Man: No Way Home at $1.9 billion USD and Top Gun: Maverick at $1.4 billion USD.
Avatar: The Way of Water hits theaters on December 16.
Elsewhere in film, a third Princess Diaries movie is in the works while a documentary on the iconic ’60s supermodel Twiggy is on its way.
