Avatar: Fire And Ash is projected to make $1billion (£740million) after making a global box office return of $760million (£563.5million), since its release.
Despite fears of franchise weariness over the third film in the series – which is in cinemas now, a global tally of $760.4million (£563.8million) in returns was announced up to yesterday (December 28), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
James Cameron‘s third film in the franchise pulled in $88million (£65.2million) domestically in the US over the long Christmas weekend, taking its overall toll domestically to $217.7million (£161.4million) and $542.7million (£402.3million) overseas.
It is now projected to pull in a global total of $1billion by the end of next weekend.
The latest figures come after Cameron feared that the sluggish post-COVID box office and franchise weariness may mean the third film doesn’t do as well, and that the fourth and fifth instalments may not go ahead as a result.
If that was the case, he insisted he would hold a press conference to reveal the plot details of Avatar 4 and Avatar 5.
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“I don’t know if the saga goes beyond this point. I hope it does,” Cameron told Entertainment Weekly. “But, you know, we prove that business case every time we go out.”
“Here’s what it is,” he added. “If we don’t get to make 4 and 5, for whatever reason, I’ll hold a press conference and I’ll tell you what we were gonna do. How’s that?”
The Oscar-winning filmmaker made movie history with 2009’s Avatar, set on an alien world where indigenous beings, The Na’vi, rise up against humans invading their land for resources. The film remains the highest grossing movie of all time at over $2.9billion (£2.1billion), while 2022 sequel Avatar: The Way Of Water sits at third with $2.3billion (£1.7billion).
Picking up after events in Avatar: The Way Of Water, the third film follows Jake Sully and Neytiri’s grief-stricken family, who encounter an aggressive new Na’Vi tribe, the Mangkwan clan, that threatens the future of Pandora.
In a three-star review of the new film, NME said it’s “hard to argue you don’t get your money’s worth” with Avatar: Fire And Ash, even if it does “retread extremely familiar ground”.
In other news, while promoting the film, Cameron has recently been vocal about a few incidents from the past. He dismissed Matt Damon’s assertion that the star was offered the lead in the first Avatar movie, and also expressed disappointment at a joke Amy Poehler made about him at the Golden Globes in 2013.
