One of the big numbers being flouted about before the release of “Avatar: The Way of Water” was $2 billion. That’s the number that James Cameron says the film’s box office has to reach globally to break even.
That’s considerably above the standard measure for profitability used by box-office analysts who say a good overall guide is that a film has to make three times its production budget to reach that point. The methodology is you take the film’s budget, add 50% again for its marketing costs, and then double that amount because exhibitors will take half the gross.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” boasts a production budget of anywhere between $350-460 million depending upon sources, with complications arising over the fact this isn’t designed as a solo film and was shot in conjunction with the third film and parts of the fourth film.
Going by the upper estimate, the film has to reach at least $1.38 billion to be profitable. Today, it reached that exact milestone and isn’t slowing down. Variety confirmed that worldwide gross number and according to its sources within the studio, the break-even point for the film is estimated to be around $1.4 billion which it will hit within hours if not already.
The film grossed another $63.4 million dollars domestically over the three-day New Year weekend and is expected to bring in $82.4 million by the end of Monday, with a running total of $421.6 million domestically and $956.9 million worldwide. The movie is expected to cross the $1 billion global mark early next week.
