Recent Disney released the final trailer for the upcoming Avatar sequel. It has been 13 years since James Cameron wowed audiences with the world of Pandora and the race of blue alien people known as the Na’vi.
The film currently sits as the highest growing film of all time with an estimated $2.922 Billion worldwide. When the film released in 2009 the highest grossing film then was James Cameron’s own 1997 historical drama Titanic with $2.2 Billion, to which he surpassed. 
James Cameron has been busy as not only has he been working on Avatar 2, but also Avatar 3, 4 and even 5. Which definitely costs quite a bit to make. The first Avatar cost roughly $237 Million and the current estimated budget for its sequel, The Way of Water, is somewhere around $250 Million. However, it appears the film cost far beyond that, at least according to Cameron himself.
In a recent interview with GQ magazine the director went into detail about the film’s budget. He refused to give a specific number, but said that it was “Very f*cking expensive“.
How expensive? Well he would go on to specify that the budget was so high that is perhaps “the worst business case in movie history.” and that in order for the movie to be a success “you have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.“
As we mentioned before Titanic is the third highest grossing film of all time with $2.2 Billion worldwide and the fourth highest grossing film is 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War with $2.04 Billion. So in order for the film to just “break even” the film needs to cross the two billion dollars threshold. In other words it needs to be as successful as its predecessor to be considered a success.Â
While Avatar: The Way of Water may definitely cross the $250 Million mark it’s not a safe bet to assume it will pass the $2 Billion mark. The highest grossing film since the 2020 pandemic hit was Spider-Man: No Way Home with only $1.9 Billion. In order for Disney to make a profit they need to surpass that.
What do you think? Will the long awaited Avatar sequel make big bucks like its predecessor?Â
Source: Variety
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.