Avatar: The Way of Water, from 20th Century Studios and Disney, is projected to earn $17 million on Tuesday, which could make it the highest-grossing Tuesday of 2022, surpassing the $17.5 million earned by Minions: Rise of Gru on its opening day.
It seems that some competing studios are anticipating higher numbers, but we’ll have to wait until morning to find out for sure. The domestic total for the fifth day of the James Cameron-helmed sequel’s run will reach $167.3 million.
One distribution source claims that Avatar 2 has already made about $8 million in pre-sales for the upcoming weekend, which is impressive for a sequel’s second outing in theatres. In comparison to the weekend’s 12.3% indexing, Imax was responsible for 14% of Avatar 2’s $16M Monday box office.
One of Avatar 2’s main competitors right now is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. That Lucasfilm movie made $17.5M on its opening Tuesday, a number that Avatar 2 could potentially surpass.
Also, the last time Christmas was on a Sunday was in 2015, when Rogue One opened to $96.1M over the course of four days. This is a reasonable target for Avatar 2 to shoot for over the weekend of May 25-27.
Even though Christmas was on a Friday in 2010, the second weekend of the first Avatar also occurred during the Christmas period (which is better than the holiday falling on a Saturday or Sunday). With $75.6M in its second weekend in 2009, the film only lost 1.8% from its first three days’ total of $77M. Amazing.
Today marks the day that Avatar 2’s worldwide total passes the $500 million mark. The sequel was a major factor in Disney breaking the record for the highest annual worldwide box office haul of any studio, surpassing $4 billion.
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- “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Box Office Projection For Thursday: Around $17 Million!
- Critique Of “Don’t Worry, Darling”: Lackluster Despite Its Star Power!
Our complete coverage of the holiday box office can be found here; the only other new wide release with a chance of grossing north of $100M ultimately this season is Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which opens tomorrow with no previews tonight. That sequel, directed by Joel Crawford and Juan Mercado, could earn $15 million to $20 million in its first four days.
Riverdale Casts Cheryl’s New Twin Brother
In the last season of Riverdale, a new Blossom is added to the family tree. To play Cheryl’s twin brother Julian in Season 7 of the CW drama, our sister site Deadline reports that the show has cast Nicholas Barasch.
For future episodes, Barasch will be seen as Julian Blossom, who is described as “your classic high school red-headed bully” in the official synopsis. “Handsome, athletic, and cocky, he always gets his way, but on the rare occasions when he doesn’t—like with Veronica—he makes life miserable for everyone around him. He and his twin sister have frequent run-ins, and he is an adversary to all of our teen characters, especially Archie.
One might object at this point, however, and ask, “Wait a minute—wasn’t Cheryl’s twin brother Jason?” Moreover, I thought he was dead. True, but we are in Riverdale, after all. After the events of Season 6’s finale, Archie and the gang jumped forward in time to 1955 and began their high school careers anew.
Not only that, but way back in Season 4 of the show, Cheryl and Jason found out that they had a triplet brother named Julian who was supposedly absorbed in the womb. It’s unclear if Nana Rose made up the whole Julian thing or if Cheryl really did get rid of the haunted doll that Julian’s spirit inhabited. To reiterate, we are in Riverdale.
Last Words
In terms of worldwide ticket sales, Avatar 2 has already soared past the $500 million mark. As a result of the success of the sequel, Disney has earned more than $4 billion at the box office so far in 2018—more than any other studio.
All of our coverage of the holiday box office can be found here; the only other new wide release with a chance of grossing north of $100M ultimately this season is Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which opens tomorrow without previews tonight. That follow-up, directed by Joel Crawford and Juan Mercado, is expecting to earn between $15 million and $20 million in its first four days.
