Avatar 1 is, to date, the biggest success of all time in theaters. With the release of the second part 'Avatar: The Way of the Water' on December 14, 2022, the saga of James Cameron promises to break new records. We propose you to decipher this cinematographic phenomenon in 5 mind-blowing figures.
Avatar 1 is to date the highest grossing film in the history of cinema. When it was released in 2009, this unusual film shattered all records. It established itself as the world's biggest box office success by raking in $2.78 billion in revenue.
The first installment of the saga reached the $1 billion revenue in just 19 days. A record! At the time, it dethroned another James Cameron film: Titanic, which had earned 'only' $1.8 billion in total revenue.
In 2019, the blockbuster Avengers: Endgame temporarily steals the top spot by collecting $2.79 billion worldwide.
However, the return to theaters of the first installment of the saga allowed Avatar 1 to reclaim its title, with a total gain of $2.91 billion.
For the fans of the Na'vi and Pandora, the fictional universe imagined by James Cameron, the wait between the first and the second part of the saga has been long.
It took 13 years between the release of the first film, on December 16, 2009, and the second, on December 14, 2022. We understand better the impatience of fans to discover the continuation of the adventures of Neytiri and Jake Sully!
But did you know that many years had already passed between the writing of the script for Avatar 1 and the release of the film?
James Cameron reportedly wrote the 80-page script in just two weeks... in 1994! Producer Jon Landau was reportedly immediately excited about the project, but the technology to make it happen didn't exist yet...
In total, 15 years of reflection will have been necessary to give life to the world of the Na'vi as James Cameron had imagined it.
If the fans had to wait so long between the first and the second part of the saga, it is also because of the perfectionism of James Cameron who wanted to take the time to do things right.
The director imagined a saga with 5 films in total. The next installments are expected to be released in 2024, 2026 and 2028 respectively.
But most importantly, he preferred to write the entire saga before shooting Avatar: The Way of the Water. So he took the time to write four scripts before moving on to the design and filming stage.
To date, Avatar 2 and 3 have been filmed in their entirety, as well as the first acts of the fourth installment.
The budget for the next 4 films in the Avatar saga is estimated at one billion dollars, or $250 million per film.
The sum of 1 billion is comparable to the budget of the Harry Potter saga with the difference that the adventures of the young wizard are spread over 8 films...
As for the budget of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it is far behind that of the Avatar saga, since it reached 'only' 285 million dollars.
According to James Cameron, the second film in the saga cost too much. To be profitable, it must rank 3rd or 4th most lucrative film in the history of cinema: a real artistic and financial challenge for the director!
Avatar: The Way of the Water, which was released on Wednesday, Dec. 14 in France, has recorded over 1.8 million admissions in just 5 days of release.
With this strong start, James Cameron's new blockbuster does better than the first installment in 2009.
The film has benefited from good word of mouth after excellent pre-sales. According to Aurélien Bosc, Pathé Group's general manager, 300,000 tickets were sold even before the second installment was released in theaters and this was exclusively for Gaumont Pathé Group theaters.
After a drop in attendance in 2022, French cinemas are hoping to boost their admissions thanks to the sequel to the adventures of Neytiri and Jake Sully. Will the film The Way of the Water create a tidal wave?
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