Avatar The Way of Water advance booking crosses ₹20 crore in India, tickets worth over ₹2500 sold out in several cities

James Cameron’s Avatar The Way of Water earned ₹20 crore in advance booking collections for its opening day in India. In many cities, IMAX shows with tickets worth ₹2500-3000 were sold out.

Published on: Dec 16, 2022, 07:45:37 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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Avatar: The Way of Water is expected to register a strong opening in India at the box office. The film sold tickets worth ₹20 crore in advance booking for its opening day across the country. This figure has been surpassed by only four films this year--KGF Chapter 2, RRR, Brahmastra Part One Shiva, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. (Also read: Avatar The Way of Water movie review: James Cameron's sequel is a stunning spectacle despite the packed story)

James Cameron’s follow-up to Avatar (2009) is out on Friday.

As per trade sources, the film earned just over ₹20 crore in advance booking across India till Thursday night. The figure is among the top five advance booking collections this year in India but way behind the mark set by KGF Chapter 2 ( ₹80 crore), which reported the highest advance booking in India ever.

While Avatar 2 has sold fewer tickets than some of the films below it in the list of highest advance booking, it has collected more courtesy higher average ticket prices. This is due to the fact that the film has a wide release in 3D and IMAX screens. In some cities, the ticket prices are as high as ₹2500-3000 for certain IMAX shows. Interestingly, many of these shows are sold out, even as far as Sunday.

The James Cameron film is expected to rake in anywhere between ₹40-50 crore at the Indian box office on Friday, a solid opening for any Hollywood film. In fact, very few Indian films have managed this number this year (KGF 2 and RRR only, in fact). Globally too, the film is expected to gross somewhere around $600 million in its opening weekend, which will set it on course to be one of the highest grossing films ever if it can maintain good pace past the weekend.

The fact that Avatar 2 has generated largely positive reviews should help a good word of mouth, provided the audience likes it as much as the critics have. This will give it the much-needed legs to rule at the box office over the remainder of the year.

Avatar: The Way of Water is the sequel to the 2009 blockbuster Avatar, which is the highest-grossing film of all time. The sequel may find it tough to break that record (almost $3 billion worldwide) but it is expected to leave a solid impression on the worldwide box office.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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