'Avatar: Fire and Ash' snares $12 million in Thursday previews

Disney and James Cameron's 3rd Avatar movie, "Avatar: Fire and Ash," deed theaters Thursday, snapping up $12 cardinal successful aboriginal preview screenings domestically.

The 2nd installment successful the movie series, "The Way of Water," had a amended commencement and tallied $5 cardinal much successful its Thursday preview haul successful 2022. Still, container bureau analysts expect "Fire and Ash" volition bring successful astatine slightest $100 cardinal during its opening play successful the U.S. and Canada.

"A batch is riding connected the show of 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' and with little than 2 weeks remaining successful the year, the film's results volition play a pivotal relation successful shaping the yearly container bureau totals," Paul Dergarabedian, caput of marketplace trends astatine Comscore, told CNBC.

Fueling planetary summons income volition beryllium planetary markets, which collected $43.1 cardinal successful preview screenings.

"The circumstances surrounding each Avatar film person been rather different," said Shawn Robbins, manager of analytics astatine Fandango and laminitis of Box Office Theory. "The archetypal was a sleeper-turned-phenomenon during a pre-streaming container bureau heyday, the 2nd a beneficiary of pent-up sequel request and eventized-status successful moviegoing's post-Covid recovery, and the 3rd is present opening successful a much competitory and new-normal market."

The Avatar franchise is simply a unicorn successful Hollywood. Despite garnering wide acclaim and monolithic fiscal occurrence astatine the container office, the franchise has ne'er rather captured the taste relevance that Star Wars oregon the Marvel Cinematic Universe — some besides owned by Disney — person enjoyed. Toy income fizzled and cosplayers donning dense bluish constitution astatine popular civilization instrumentality conventions person go fewer and acold between.

Yet, some 2009's "Avatar" and 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water" person topped $2 cardinal astatine the planetary container office, with the archetypal movie teetering adjacent to $3 cardinal successful full summons receipts.

"The changeless is the James Cameron factor," Robbins said. "Audiences expect expansive visuals, dependable and storytelling erstwhile they bargain tickets to his movies. They consistently conscionable oregon transcend expectations with agelong runways astatine the container bureau and exclusive theatrical windows due to the fact that they present an acquisition that cannot beryllium duplicated astatine home."

Driving these beardown hauls is the merchantability of premium ample format tickets for screens similar IMAX and Dolby, arsenic good arsenic 3D showings, which thin to beryllium much costly than regular tickets. 

While 3D films person fallen retired of favour with home audiences, they stay fashionable internationally — especially successful China. Indeed, "Avatar" made the bulk of its wealth extracurricular of the U.S., with a whopping $2.08 cardinal coming from overseas.

Dergarabedian said the franchise has consistently benefited from moviegoers' enthusiasm for seeing the films successful 3D.

"The archetypal 'Avatar,' released successful 2009, was a groundbreaking movie that reignited wide involvement successful 3D cinema, mounting the signifier for consequent entries to capitalize connected this trend," helium added.

The planetary preview income shared by Disney connected Friday did not see China. The institution noted that aboriginal estimates bespeak an opening time of astir $17.1 million, which would people that third-highest opening time for a Motion Picture Association movie since "The Way of Water."

"While 'Fire and Ash' is looking astatine a diminished container bureau opening comparative to 'The Way of Water,' it's each astir the agelong game," Robbins said. "Premium screens are locked up into the caller year, Cameron's films are not front-loaded similar astir Hollywood franchises, and planetary show volition again acold outweigh domestic."