James Cameron’s long awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water has been seemingly underperforming at the box office since its debut last week. Not that it hasn’t made money, it just recently passed $500 Million at the worldwide box office. But it has underperformed in terms on box office projections.



Originally the film was tracking to make around $175 Million at the domestic box office but came up short to around $134 Million. The overseas box office has also been somewhat disappointing, especially in the Chinese market which the film was originally expected to do really well in. The disappointing box office has lead to the Disney stock dropping to a 48 year low.

Despite all this, it may be a bit early to call it a “failure” for Disney.

Yes, director James Cameron insinuated that the film needs around $2 Billion worldwide to break even; You’d probably need a chunk of unobtanium to reach that number. But remember, it has only been a week.



If you recall the first film back in 2009 had a slow rise at the box office, leading it to eventually becoming the highest grossing film of all time. Now I’m not saying that the same thing will happen here, but there is a chance that the numbers can pick up this coming weekend. How come?

1. A common family activity around Christmas time includes a visit to see a film at the theater. I know because I used to do that with my immediate and extended family. So some people may be waiting for Christmas to see the film as opposed to opening weekend.

2. There is little to no competition at the box office aside from those last few people who didn’t get to see Black Panther: Wakanda Forever or Black Adam. 



Now yes, this is all hypothetical, but in the movie industry you can never really tell what will be a hit or a miss until it hits theaters. Maybe Avatar: The Way of Water will have the same luck as its predecessor.

What do you think? Will Avatar: The Way of Water get a Christmas Miracle at the box office?