Thursday 24 November 2022 12:41 AM Avatar: The Way of Water projected to debut at the box office with $150M-$170M trends now

13 years after the original Avatar hit theaters, en route to a record-breaking box office performance, the long-awaited sequel Avatar: The Way of Water is looking to make a big splash in theaters.

The original Avatar didn't have a monstrous opening weekend, opening in mid-December 2009 to $77 million... though it ultimately grossed a then-record $749.7 million domestic and a still-record $2.7 billion (which has since grown to $785.2 million domestic and $2.9 billion global with re-releases).

The highly-anticipated sequel from director James Cameron is expected to at least double the original Avatar's opening weekend, with a projected opening weekend between $150 million and $170 million, via The Hollywood Reporter.

Some box office analysts are even predicting that Avatar: The Way of Water could be just the fourth December release to cross the $200 million opening weekend threshhold.

The only three films to accomplish that feat were Marvel's 2021 blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home and two of the three Star Wars sequels - 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248 million) and 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($220 million).

Disney also announced on Tuesday that they have secured a Chinese release date on December 16, the same day it hits theaters in North America and many other foreign territories.