On December 16, James Cameron's much-awaited, epic adventure Avatar: The Way of Water will hit the globe like a Tsunami. Avatar 2 has been one of the highly-anticipated films of recent times, and it is expected to create havoc at the global box office.
Avatar 2 is the direct sequel to the 13-year-old film Avatar (2009), and it stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Stephen Lang in primary roles. In India, Avatar has a solid fan base, and even after so many years, the craze for its sequel is worth applaudable.
DNA got in touch with the trade experts, to learn more about the buzz for Avatar: The Way of Water. Noted trade expert Komal Nahta is confident that the film will become the biggest hit of 2022. He even stated that lifetime collections of Avatar 2 will remain untouched for the next 5-7 years. "Avatar will become the world's biggest film. It will become a revolution and a cinematic experience for a lifetime."
Speaking about Avatar's collection in India, Komal added, "When it comes to Avatar 2, possibilities are limitless. Nothing will surprise me at this stage even if the film will collect Rs 50 crore on its first day. This is because, Avatar will be loved by everyone, across the nation. East, West, North, and South, people will hail Avatar 2 as this year's best film. Komal even claimed that Avatar 2 is expected to beat the opening of Hindi versions of RRR (Rs 20 crores) and KGF Chapter 2 (Rs 53.95 crores).
As per the international trade reports the budget of Avatar 2 is around $350 million dollars. When it is converted into Indian rupees, the production cost of Avatar 2 is more than Rs 3,000 crores. Will James Cameron's film break even at the box office? Komal replied, "Of course, it will recover its budget, and even earn huge profits. The film is a movement itself, and it will surely touch everyone. I feel that, for the next 5-10 years, Avatar will remain the highest-grossing film worldwide," claimed Komal. The noted critic stated that he thoroughly enjoyed the film, and it has all the ingredients of an all-around entertainer.
On the other side, another popular trade expert Sumit Kadel thinks that the film will take a huge opening, but it won't cross the first-day figures of RRR and KGF 2. Sumit even stated that the advance bookings of Avatar started on a rocking note, but it saw a decline afterwards. "Avatar 2 registered good advance in A centres, in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Calcutta. But the B and C centres (cities like Baroda, Agra, Patna, Gandhinagar, Jabalpur etc) have little-to-no advance booking. This is because Avatar isn't Avengers Endgame. The film is the sequel to a decade-old film. Plus it is 3 hours film. So, people are waiting for reviews and first-day responses." Sumit added that going with the trend, he is expecting Rs 35 crores on its first day. He also mentioned that 40% of opening is expected from South, as Hollywood has a huge market down South.
Kadel further added, "The buzz of the film is massive. But a non-Marvel, Hollywood film, drawing such huge numbers in India, is commendable. I am pretty sure that if word-of-mouth will be in the favour of the film, we will witness tremendous growth from Saturday onwards. We can easily expect Rs 150-200 crores lifetime business from Avatar 2.
A week after Avatar 2, Rohit Shetty's Cirkus will release in cinemas. When Sumit was asked about James's film affecting Shetty's Cirkus, he said, "See, Avatar will affect Cirkus in metros. But Rohit Shetty's cinema works big time in B and C centres. So, Cirkus will be the first choice in the interiors," Expert concluded.
