James Cameron’s historic 2009 filmAvatarhas once again asserted its box office dominance, with the film’s rerelease managing to match up to and surpass most other showings by gross revenue. This success comes just months before the December release of the film’s much-anticipated sequel.
Avatartells the story of Pandora, a planet far off in space and inhabited by the noble Na’vi people who live in harmony with nature, and the conflict sparked when humans located the planet in the 22nd Century and singled it out for mining of the rare resource unobtanium. The protagonist is paraplegic Jake Sully, who takes his sibling’s place in a program that transfers the consciousness of human subjects into Na’vi bodies, allowing them to experience the otherwise toxic world unencumbered. By experiencing the world and culture of the Na’vi, Sully and others become sympathetic to the natives, turning against their own when things get violent. It was an unparalleled hit, and anAvatarsequel has been the most anticipated movieproject ever since.
RELATED:Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Could Bridge the Gap to James Cameron’s Sequels
With the long-awaited continuation of the franchise nearly at hand, Disney made the decision to rerelease the original film in theaters, to give both new and returning fans the spectacular cinematic experience that audiences got in 2009, going so far as toremoveAvatarfrom the Disney Plus streaming service. The film was available in remastered HDR 4K, putting out visuals that didn’t look even slightly dated. All the effort paid off, with the film grossing a whopping $30.5 million on opening, marginally beating out the most successful original release of the weekend,Don’t Worry Darling,by half a million dollars (viaDeadline).
Cameron took to Twitter to encourage people to check out the original film in a cinema, emphasizing his intended experience. The rerelease also had a large emphasis on the 3D experience, with a majority of tickets sold being 3D or 4D screenings. While other franchises have kept fans waiting longer, none have been ashotly anticipated asAvatar: The Way of Waterhas been, as no film has quite managed to match the success of the first film in theAvataruniverse. This was especially apparent in foreign markets, with the rerelease making more than double abroad than domestically.
This move by Disney, which even went as far asreleasing a new poster for the originalAvatarmore than a decade after the original release, has certainly accomplished the goal of bringing the long-sustained conversation aroundAvatarback to full force in public discourse. The exercise also served as a check to ensure that audiences would be able to see the upcoming sequel in a similar style, utilizing IMAX and 3D equipment to see the movie in Cameron’s preferred style. While originally scheduled for a 2-week run, there are talks about the rerelease staying in theaters longer due to high demand.
The strong showing might convince Disney to resort to this tactic more frequently, likely showing diminishing returns on each subsequent trial, especially with tie-in media not commanding the same level of acclaim. It also remains to be seen just how anyone, even Cameron, can live up to sucha long period of hype aroundAvatar 2, let alone pull it off in 3 more consecutive sequels as planned.
Avatar: The Way of Wateris set for a 16th December 2022, release.
