One of the most expensive movies ever made, Avatar: The Way of Water is an exercise in excess. From its epic scope, state-of-the-art visual effects, and over three-hour run time, director James Cameron spared no expense on the film, which has now been released in domestic theaters 13 years after the first Avatar broke box office records. While The Way of Water quite literally has the highest bar for success, the film is off to a fine start at the box office, after making $17 million in Thursday previews.
The film began screening at around 3 pm, and will go wide in over 4,200 nationwide theaters on Friday. The $17 million Thursday haul puts it in line with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but just behind Jurassic World Dominion ($18 million) and The Dark Knight ($18.5 million). By comparison, the first Avatar famously opened low, but went on to dominate the box office for months. It remains the highest grossing film in history with $760 million at the domestic box office and $2.9 billion worldwide.
There were concerns in the weeks and months leading up to The Way of Water’s release about the franchise’s cultural relevance — it has, after all, been over a decade since the first film was released. And crucially, Cameron has avoided flooding the market with spinoff material to distract audiences while they waited for the second installment. But a recent re-release of the first film drew a reassuring response from viewers, and added over $75 million to the film’s domestic tally.
