Disney's "Avatar: Fire and Ashes" had a mediocre opening weekend box office performance. It failed to ignite the market as expected, and instead showed a tepid trend. This is also the outside world’s prediction of the total box office of the third installment in James Cameron’s “Avatar” series.
The film took in $88 million in its first three days, well below analysts' forecasts for a $110 million to $125 million debut. By comparison, 2022's "Avatar: Waterfall" grossed $134 million over the same three-day period.
In overseas markets, the film earned US$257 million at the box office, and its global premiere total is estimated to be US$345 million.
The theatrical release of "Avatar: Fire and Ember" faces multiple obstacles, the first of which is the over three-hour running time. In addition, compared to "Water", which was released more than ten years after the release of the first "Avatar", the audience's expectations and demand for this film have dropped somewhat. Some box office analysts and film critics pointed out that the film's technological innovation was not as strong as its predecessors, and technological innovation was the core driving force behind the series' box office success in the past.
According to entertainment data research firm EntTelligence, approximately 5.2 million North American viewers watched "Avatar: Fire and Ember," a sharp decline from the 8.7 million opening weekend attendance for "Waterfall" in 2022.
However, the "Avatar" series has never relied on the opening box office to "pre-empt" the success. The first "Avatar" in 2009 only grossed $77 million at the box office during its North American opening weekend, but it continued to be shown in theaters for nearly a year. By the time the film was released, it had grossed $2.7 billion at the global box office. After multiple re-releases, the film's cumulative global box office has now climbed to $2.9 billion, according to box office statistics agency Comesco.
"Avatar: Waterfall" ran in theaters for 23 weeks and ultimately grossed $2.3 billion at the global box office.
Paul Dergarabedian, director of Comscot's market trends department, said: "With less than two weeks left before the theatrical box office closes this year, "Avatar: Fire and Ember" is under tremendous pressure to increase the box office. Although the film's opening box office is slightly lower than pre-release expectations, the "Avatar" series has always been known for its long-term box office trend, and its explosive box office power will gradually appear in the follow-up."
In addition, the box office revenue of high-end screening formats such as super large screens also provides strong support for the box office of this series. The box office performance of the "Avatar" series on high-priced immersive screens such as IMAX and Dolby Cinema, as well as in 3D screenings, far exceeded the market average. Disney revealed that 3D screenings and high-end theaters accounted for 66% of the opening weekend box office.
Although 3D movies have gradually faded out of the sight of North American audiences, they remain popular in overseas markets, especially the Chinese market. In fact, most of the box office revenue of the "Avatar" series comes from overseas, and the overseas box office of the first film was as high as 2.08 billion US dollars.