Canadian director James Cameron (left) and Suzy Amis Cameron at the world premiere of the film ‘Avatar: The Way of the Water’, in London on December 6, 2022 (AFP/ISABEL INFANTES)
“Avatar 2” achieved one of the 20 best starts of the century, and the best of the year in France, giving hope for a rebound in cinema in theaters after the pandemic years, which were more favorable to streaming platforms.
Thirteen years after “Avatar”, which approached three billion euros in revenue, “Avatar: the way of the water” gathered more than 2.7 million spectators.
According to CBO Box office data Wednesday, it’s one of the top 20 starts of the century, while “Avatar” was just 24th.
With its 2.740 million admissions, this second episode of James Cameron’s saga did slightly better than the first in 2009, which had reached 2.648 million admissions in the first week.
It is the 18th best seven-day start in France since 2001, and the best since “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in December 2021, with 2.779 million admissions. Before that, we have to go back to 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, to find such a level of entries in the first week.
“Avatar: The Way of the Water” crushed the competition during the week of December 14-20, marked by the end of the FIFA World Cup, and the semi-final and final played by France.
The second episode, with 3:12, is half an hour longer than the first.
Set again on the planet Pandora, “The Way of the Water” is a sequel more than a decade after the events of the inaugural installment.
Released Friday in North America, it had totaled some $134 million in revenue over the first three days.
“Avatar”, presented as a technological revolution by its use of 3D, had been one of the greatest successes in the history of cinema.
In France it had totaled 14.775 million admissions, after 19 weeks of operation. And worldwide, he had dethroned the revenue record already established by the same James Cameron with “Titanic” in 1997.
– Shooting in apnea –
The director plans five episodes, but has already warned that he won’t necessarily be behind the camera every time.
The 68-year-old Canadian continues to proclaim his fascination with the seabed, which had already found a very successful expression in “Titanic”, and which flourishes on a planet threatened by human greed.
Before conquering the public, the blue universe of “Avatar 2” fascinated film critics in France.
“A masterful blockbuster projecting us into a nature sublimated and threatened by ecocidal imperialism, James Cameron’s film takes the viewer beyond the known borders of cinema”, wrote Liberation.
“An epic of more than three staggering hours. A great show that metaphorically pays homage to the beauty of our blue planet”, according to L’Humanité.
“This hyper-immersive family show, where we see fantastic images of unreal beauty and staggering aquatic creatures scroll by, dumbfounded, owes a lot to its director, his scientific genius, his sense of romance and his love of beautiful images. “explained Le Parisien.
The filming required colossal technical means, with perilous aquatic filming, in apnea, and an extremely wide range of special effects.
James Cameron hailed the huge team around him.
“I like to think that (the production of the film) is like a big hippie community with a bunch of great artists,” the director told AFP. “Technology does not create art. Artists create art”.
About two-thirds of French viewers saw the film in theaters offering 3D HDR and HFR technology, and in the majority of cases, in premium theaters, 20th Century studios pointed out at the start of the week.
© 2022 AFP
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