SATURDAY UPDATE: Remastered by James Cameron avatar added another 13 offshore markets including the UK and Japan on Friday, boosting its three-day international till total $7.7M. On a like-for-like basis, that’s 54% more than the 2012 3D remaster Star Wars: Episode I. Along with opening Friday domestically, the Disney re-release has a total of worldwide $11M so far heading to about $25 million for the weekend.
As already mentioned, this avatar sortie isn’t really about increasing the numbers for the world’s biggest movie of all time, it’s more of a placeholder for Cameron’s upcoming sequel. Avatar: The Way of Water, whose scenes are tagged to the end of the original currently in theaters. Still, the money the remake is making and the excitement surrounding the improved graphics isn’t anything to throw a dart at.
Already on Wednesday and Thursday avatar saw several No. 1 openings and added top starts in Indonesia and Taiwan on Friday. In which United Kingdomthe starting day was $300,000 at #3 (don’t worry darling and Entrance ticket to paradise are there before). This was 13% greater than Star Wars: Episode I‘s re-release and 249% larger than the most recent re-release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. 86 percent of the box office came from 3D.
Japan for its part, took 100% of its revenue from 3D and ended up 7% behind phantom menace‘s 2012 reissue and 488% higher than No way home‘s newer re-release.
The top overseas market is still to this day France with $1.1 million by Friday, followed by Italy ($600,000), Australia ($600,000), Korea ($400,000) and Germany ($400,000). A note on Korea, the film saw a whopping 150% gain today over Friday, taking its gross to $871,000 through Saturday (not included in the totals above).
We will have a full update on Sunday.
PREVIOUS FRIDAY UPDATE: Featuring Thursday’s numbers, Disney’s re-release of James Camerons avatar has grossed $3.5 million from 37 international cash markets. On a comparable overseas basis, this two-day number places the return to Pandora 57% ahead of the 2012 3D reboot Star Wars: Episode I and 29% below the 3D version of Cameron from 2012 titanic which had an Easter holiday bow.
That avatar The re-release comes a little less than three months ahead of the launch of Avatar: The Way of Water, and serves as a refresher for the world of Na’vi and immersive 3D visuals – 50% of offshore screens show it in 3D this weekend, with strong adoption in Korea, France, Germany and other majors. There are also sneak shots of way of the water on which marked avatar Reissue that gives audiences a taste of the highly-anticipated sequel.
On Thursday, key markets Italy ($300,000), Germany and Mexico ($200,000 each) each saw #1 starts for the /20th Century Studios remastered title. Other No. 1s were in Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Ukraine, Singapore, Thailand, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia.
Australiawhere the film opened at #3 on Thursday, had an opening day of $400,000, up 36% from 2012 titanic reissue. 3D accounted for 69% of the box office.
Leading the re-release so far France at $700,000 two days, followed by Australia, Italy, Saudi Arabia ($300,000/two days) and Korea ($300,000/two days/$446,000 to date). The latter, in particular, whose Friday number is not included in the above total, has had a very positive audience reaction with a Naver score of 9.82 and a CGV score of 98%.
North America is releasing today (with a pre-sale price of approximately $2.5 million), as well as the UK, Japan and India among the key markets.
We will have more updates throughout the weekend.
BEFORE, THURSDAY: Disney yesterday began rolling out the remastered re-release of James Cameron overseas avatar in five early markets where the Na’vi see a combined gross of $877,000. The 4K high dynamic range version was #1 in France at $513,000, up 8% on the comparable 3D re-release of titanic in 2012.
in the Korea, the 20th Century Studios film, was #3 behind two local titles (it has grossed $277,000 as of Thursday). Elsewhere, avatar came #2 in Saudi Arabia and #1 in Belgium and the Philippines.
Today markets such as Germany, Italy, Australia, Brazil and Mexico are added. In total, avatar will be on over 8,000 offshore screens and across North America this weekend.
As we reported on Wednesday, social media was in a frenzy when it emerged that sneak footage of the upcoming sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, was tagged at the end of the film. The reactions were very positive.
Meanwhile, Disney pulls out the stops when it comes to it avatar and China. To mark the opening of the immersive exhibition Avatar: Explore Pandora at Shanghai Disney Resort, the park hosted a special screening of the film with a message from the filmmaker.
In China, the one-off screening used the CINITY technology developed in the country. avatar will not be widely re-released in the market as it was in theaters there last year.
The news follows news that China Film Group executives were recently treated to a screening of footage from the forthcoming way of the waterreceives a surprise greeting from Cameron.
It’s too early for a message avatar 2 Release in China, although it’s a huge market for the franchise as the first film grossed over $200 million there in 2010 and the re-release added $58 million. That’s what pushed the Na’vi into the past Avengers: Endgame reclaim the crown of the highest-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office.
Shanghai Disney’s Explore Pandora, a temporary installation planned for a six-month engagement, will be the first avatar-Themed traveling exhibition at a Disney park worldwide. Designed in collaboration with Lightstorm Entertainment and Disney Location-Based Experiences, the walkthrough exhibit offers guests an exploration of Pandora’s fantastical alien moon, the Na’vi culture and their bioluminescent environment.
Covering 1,400 square meters, it features life-size recreations of iconic landmarks from the film, including the Tree of Voices. The twenty-foot-tall centerpiece is a luminous recreation of the film’s sacred site of connection, which features whispers of the Na’vi ancestors.
High-tech interactions include the Amplified Mobility Platform (AMP) suit simulator and the ability to be “avatarized”. There is also a shopping experience.
Avatar: The Way of Water begins rolling out overseas on December 14 this year and lands in North America on December 16.
