Avatar: The Way of Water- budget, reviews, and sequels

After 13  years of waiting,  James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water is finally out for the whole world to watch. 

Given the time it took to produce the film and its gigantic price tag, it has to become one of the highest-grossing movies of all time to break even and justify its hefty budget for the many sequels slated to follow, reports Time.

So far, the reviews and box office projections have been strong and positive. However, the coming days will reveal what the fans really think of the long-awaited and highly anticipated movie. 

"The plot of The Way of Water is designed to seem engagingly complex, but there's nothing about it that's truly surprising or particularly moving," TIME critic Stephanie Zacharek writes, "even though Cameron heaps the faux-spiritual mumbo-jumbo high and tugs valiantly at the waterworks levers."

The Daily Beast critic Nick Schager had similar feelings, writing that the movie felt "forced and without a single memorable vision."

Despite such reviews, scoring 80% on Rotten Tomatoes proves that the majority ultimately did enjoy the sequel for the visual spectacle that it is.

"Cameron has raised not only the stakes of his effects artistry but the choreographic flow of his staging, to the point of making The Way of Water, like Avatar, into the apotheosis of a must-see movie," Variety's chief film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote.

How much did cost to make  Avatar: The Way of Water?

According to Variety, overall the film is reported to have cost Disney $350 million. However, the numbers may vary since there is no publicly available, definitive answer as to the exact dollar amount.

The reason why the movie cost so much came down to the "advanced motion-capture technology that Cameron used to reproduce every fluid movement and facial tic of his actors playing Na'vi characters," TIME's Eliana Dockterman writes. 

"For the sequels, Cameron wanted to use the same motion capture tech for actors while they were submerged underwater, an unheard-of feat that required years to engineer a solution."

Despite having such an impressive price tag, Avatar: The Way of Water is not the most expensive movie ever produced. Movies that have been even more expensive include Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which cost $379 million. Second place goes to Avengers: Age of Ultron, which rang in at $365 million, and third belongs to Avengers: Endgame, costing Marvel (well, Disney) $356 million.

How much is Avatar 2 expected to make?

According to Variety, the movie is projected to open to $150 million to $175 million across 4,100 theaters in the US. 

"Internationally, Avatar 2 could add at least $250 million to $350 million over the weekend, which would put global ticket sales at $400 million to $500 million," Variety reports. 

Disney HAS reported that the movie had already earned $38 million in advance ticket sales. This puts it ahead of early projections for Top Gun: Maverick, which currently ranks as the most successful movie this year.

Avatar: The Way of Water will need to make $1.49 billion to make its way to the top spot for 2022, and it would need to gross somewhere between $2.08 billion and $2.05 billion to break even, according to TIME. 

The first Avatar made $77 million in the US and $2.92 billion worldwide after staying at the No. 1 movie spot for seven consecutive weeks in 2009. 

It ultimately became the highest-grossing movie of all time. 

Avatar: The Way of Water is in a good position to make a solid chunk of its money back.

"It also got the green light to premiere in China, which is never a given for Hollywood movies given the criteria they need to meet to be released there, and on the conservative side, Variety estimates that "initial returns [from Chinese cinemas] could reach $100 million by Sunday" in addition to the $22 million in advance sales." reports TIME. 

What do we know about the sequels?

 Cameron has announced that the franchise will end with Avatar 3 if the second one underperforms at the box office.

"The market could be telling us we're done in three months, or we might be semi-done, meaning: 'OK, let's complete the story within movie three, and not go on endlessly' if it's just not profitable," Cameron said.

These movies are, in his own words, "Very f-cking [expensive]".

It has been reported that the budget for the upcoming three movies is a whopping $1 billion, with plans for as many as six or seven movies if there is demand for them.

The next movie is set to come in 2024, followed by Avatar 4 in 2026 and Avatar 4 in 2028.