Having already directed the highest-grossing movie ever made twice over, technically three times if you count the opening installment reclaiming its crown from Avengers: Endgame as an individual accomplishment, James Cameron will be looking to complete an unprecedented hat-trick when Avatar: The Way of Water comes to theaters.
While the 13 years since the first visit to Pandora has seen the film’s reputation take a battering from certain sections of the cinematic community, Cameron has spent the last 30 years laughing in the face of his critics, doubters, and naysayers by consistently changing the face of blockbuster cinema.
And yet, the most recent box office projections for The Way of Water via Box Office Pro have the sci-fi spectacular opening lower than you might think. In fact, the Avatar sequel could potentially wind up debuting lower than all three of the final chapters in The Twilight Saga, which is admittedly a little bit on the funny side.
The lowest end of projections have The Way of Water coming in at $135 million, which would be good enough to make it one of the 27 top-grossing debuts ever. However, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, immediate successor Part 2, and New Moon racked up a hefty $142 million, $141 million, and $138 million respectively.
Can the Na’vi topple sparkly vampires and poorly-rendered werewolves to avoid such an ignominy? We’ll have to wait and find out, but the long-awaited epic is no doubt going to show some serious legs during its run in multiplexes.
