Avatar The Way of Water is earning $1 billion in just half the month, with China's Covid entertaining

January 02, 2023: -James Cameron’s “Avatar, The Way of Water” has passed the billion-dollar mark at the international box office, but hitting sales in China could weigh on the movie’s final haul.

Worldwide ticket sales for the Disney film stand at $1.03 billion, a mixture of $317 million in household and $712 million from international calls.

The milestone is coming in half days after “The Way of Water” debuted in theatres, five days faster than “Avatar” achieved a similar benchmark in 2009. That ranks the movies among the top five rapid movies to reach $1 billion in box-office sales.

Cameron said “The Way of Water” would need to hit $2 billion in box-office receipts to be profitable.

Box-office analysts think Cameron’s flick could reach the lofty goal. “The Way of Water” has no direct or huge competition in theatres until mid-February when “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is released.

Still, industry people are concerned by muted ticket sales from China. The market was expected to be a substantial source of revenue for the next but has underperformed anticipation as Covid once again roils the region.

On Tuesday, China arrests accounted for just $108 million in ticket sales for the film. The country was anticipated to obtain $100 million in business in the film’s opening weekend alone.

“The Way of Water” is one of a handful of Hollywood releases permitted for a coveted release in China. China has been a dominant market in the global theatrical space and is considered vital for blockbusters seeking top box-office numbers.

Infections have increased and pushed the country’s healthcare system. At this point, it is unclear at what scale Covid outbreaks have reached the country, with the recent official figures on recent infections and deaths. Regardless, China abruptly ended many Covid controls. China’s National Health Commission stopped sharing daily figures after a halt in mandatory virus testing on Sunday.

“There were high hopes inducted on the begetting the additional revenue needed to help put the movies over the top in terms of the lofty global revenues anticipations set forth by director James Cameron,” stated Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.