Avatar: The Way of Water may have had a rockier opening than anticipated, but even after passing a global $1B, there’s no sign of its Box Office momentum slowing down. Sadly, however, that’s one of the few highlights to a lackluster December with little of the hoped-for gains. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A, takes a look at the closing figures.
One Standout
While Avatar 2 has managed to make a standout rally that should carry it over $600M domestically and may even brush $2B globally, it’s the only film to leave much of a trail this December. Currently standing at over $420M in the US market and $1.4B internationally in only its third weekend, it has a solid chance of reaching that coveted $2B cap if its strong performance continues into the next weekend.
However, it’s still not a record-beater for its release period, and only brings it equal with the first film- in fact, you can argue Avatar did better if you adjust the prices to modern figures. So it would be unwise to make too many lofty predictions right now.
Poor Pre-Pandemic Benchmarks
Unluckily, a lackluster performance from…well, pretty much anything else also sees us close the year with a four-week comparison to 2019 that’s under 50%. It’s a sad loss of momentum on a Box Office recovery that looked a lot stronger earlier in the year. While some of this is due to a lack of product for the period, it’s also just weak performances across the board. There should have been no way that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, now getting stale in theatrical release terms, could have netted the No 3 spot, but here we are.
On a more positive note, there’s signs of older audiences coming back to theaters again, especially for Fabelmans and even Babylon. And we did see some solid performances across limited theatrical releases. But sadly, this wasn’t quite the December Box Office everyone hoped for. Here’s hoping 2023 will deliver better.
