Tales From The Box Office: How Avatar Became The Biggest Movie Of All Time (Twice)
20th Century Studios By Ryan Scott/Dec. 10, 2022 9:00 am EST
(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.) There are lots and lots of movies that have made lots and lots of money over the years of cinema’s history. Heck, as of writing this (December 2022), there are 51 different movies that have made at least $1 billion at the box office, with “Jurassic World: Dominion” serving as the most recent addition to that coveted list. But only one movie gets to claim the top spot as the highest-grossing movie of all time: James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar.” In a list dominated by reboots, sequels, and adaptations, an original sci-fi film from the most commercially successful director of all time reigns supreme.
Frankly, for many years, it wasn’t even all that close. Only five movies have ever crossed $2 billion in ticket sales and “Avatar” got closer to $3 billion. Until 2019, Cameron’s own “Titanic” was the next closest film, with $2.2 billion to its name. That’s how much money “Avatar” made; that’s how much of a phenomenon it was. But perhaps the most amazing part of all is that, in 2019, one big-ass superhero movie came in and briefly managed to take the top spot, only for Cameron to prove his worth once again and reclaim the throne with the same damn movie. So, how is it that “Avatar” became the biggest movie in history on two different occasions? In honor of the upcoming release of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” a sequel 13 years in the making, we’re looking back at the original, how it came to be, how it carved an unconventional path to box office dominance, and what lessons we can learn from it as Disney hopes to cash in on its sequel that carries a budget north of $350 million. Let’s dig in, shall we?
The lessons contained within
20th Century Studios
So, where does that leave us? What lessons can we take away from such a singular success story? Particularly in a modern version of the film industry, which is a bit of a shell of the former one that allowed “Avatar” to conquer the world the way that it did 13 years ago. Especially as Disney is now in control of the franchise and has a lot — something like $400 million — invested in “The Way of Water” (not to mention the three additional planned sequels they announced at once). As I see it, there is one very, very simple lesson to extract from this miraculous, logic-defying success story.
Don’t ever bet against James Cameron.
Tales From The Box Office: How Avatar Became The Biggest Movie Of All Time (Twice)
20th Century Studios
By Ryan Scott/Dec. 10, 2022 9:00 am EST
(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.) There are lots and lots of movies that have made lots and lots of money over the years of cinema’s history. Heck, as of writing this (December 2022), there are 51 different movies that have made at least $1 billion at the box office, with “Jurassic World: Dominion” serving as the most recent addition to that coveted list. But only one movie gets to claim the top spot as the highest-grossing movie of all time: James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar.” In a list dominated by reboots, sequels, and adaptations, an original sci-fi film from the most commercially successful director of all time reigns supreme.
Frankly, for many years, it wasn’t even all that close. Only five movies have ever crossed $2 billion in ticket sales and “Avatar” got closer to $3 billion. Until 2019, Cameron’s own “Titanic” was the next closest film, with $2.2 billion to its name. That’s how much money “Avatar” made; that’s how much of a phenomenon it was. But perhaps the most amazing part of all is that, in 2019, one big-ass superhero movie came in and briefly managed to take the top spot, only for Cameron to prove his worth once again and reclaim the throne with the same damn movie. So, how is it that “Avatar” became the biggest movie in history on two different occasions? In honor of the upcoming release of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” a sequel 13 years in the making, we’re looking back at the original, how it came to be, how it carved an unconventional path to box office dominance, and what lessons we can learn from it as Disney hopes to cash in on its sequel that carries a budget north of $350 million. Let’s dig in, shall we?
There are lots and lots of movies that have made lots and lots of money over the years of cinema’s history. Heck, as of writing this (December 2022), there are 51 different movies that have made at least $1 billion at the box office, with “Jurassic World: Dominion” serving as the most recent addition to that coveted list. But only one movie gets to claim the top spot as the highest-grossing movie of all time: James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi blockbuster “Avatar.” In a list dominated by reboots, sequels, and adaptations, an original sci-fi film from the most commercially successful director of all time reigns supreme.
Frankly, for many years, it wasn’t even all that close. Only five movies have ever crossed $2 billion in ticket sales and “Avatar” got closer to $3 billion. Until 2019, Cameron’s own “Titanic” was the next closest film, with $2.2 billion to its name. That’s how much money “Avatar” made; that’s how much of a phenomenon it was. But perhaps the most amazing part of all is that, in 2019, one big-ass superhero movie came in and briefly managed to take the top spot, only for Cameron to prove his worth once again and reclaim the throne with the same damn movie.
So, how is it that “Avatar” became the biggest movie in history on two different occasions? In honor of the upcoming release of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” a sequel 13 years in the making, we’re looking back at the original, how it came to be, how it carved an unconventional path to box office dominance, and what lessons we can learn from it as Disney hopes to cash in on its sequel that carries a budget north of $350 million. Let’s dig in, shall we?
The movie: Avatar
“I began to run into a bunch of script problems with ‘Battle Angel,’ because I was synthesizing down these graphic novels … I switched to ‘Avatar’ and we started developing that. Then, of course, a great script came in on ‘Battle Angel’! Which is a good problem to have, because I had two great projects, either one of which the studio would be happy to go ahead with. I would say it was August or September of 2005 we decided to push ahead with ‘Avatar’.”
“My inspiration is every single science fiction book I read as a kid. And a few that weren’t science fiction. The Edgar Rice Burroughs books, H. Rider Haggard — the manly, jungle adventure writers. I wanted to do an old fashioned jungle adventure, just set it on another planet, and play by those rules.”
The financial journey
The movie opened in theaters on December 18, 2009, easily topping the charts with $77 million. While a solid number, it’s not exactly an eye-popping one that would lead you to believe it was on course to become the biggest movie in history. But this is where things get interesting and downright unprecedented. “Avatar” held like gangbusters in the weeks that followed, dropping a mere 1.8% in weekend two with a $75.6 million haul. To illustrate just how impressive the holds were, it was number one for its first eight weekends and didn’t drop below $10 million until the first weekend of March. Like the Energizer Bunny of blockbuster films, it just kept going.
Avengers: Endgame (briefly) takes the throne
Marvel Studios
However, the Marvel Cinematic Universe came calling in 2019 and, in the aftermath of “Avengers: Infinity War” taking in $2 billion in 2018 all while ending with a massive cliffhanger, Disney had a golden goose waiting in the wings. The follow-up, “Avengers: Endgame,” saw levels of demand that remain unmatched to this day in many ways, with the Russo brothers’ massive crossover taking in a gigantic $357.1 million in its domestic opening weekend. That set it up for a fairytale run, in which, it earned $858.3 million domestically and $1.93 billion internationally, for a record-breaking total of $2.79 billion. There was a new king in town.
Yet, in a bit of insane cinematic poetry, Cameron only lost the crown for a little over a year as “Avatar” got another re-release in China in 2021, in the aftermath of the pandemic when audiences were hungry to return to theaters. In China alone, the re-release earned $57.7 million. Coupled with a more robust, global re-release in early 2022, “Avatar” now sits pretty at $2.92 billion and is, once again, the unquestioned champion of the box office.
The lessons contained within
So, where does that leave us? What lessons can we take away from such a singular success story? Particularly in a modern version of the film industry, which is a bit of a shell of the former one that allowed “Avatar” to conquer the world the way that it did 13 years ago. Especially as Disney is now in control of the franchise and has a lot — something like $400 million — invested in “The Way of Water” (not to mention the three additional planned sequels they announced at once). As I see it, there is one very, very simple lesson to extract from this miraculous, logic-defying success story.
Don’t ever bet against James Cameron.
Don’t ever bet against James Cameron.
