How much profit did Avatar 2 make? Report reveals The Way of Water’s jaw-dropping revenue

Avatar 2 became the biggest movie of 2022 and the third highest-grossing movie of all time. Despite its massive cost of production and marketing, Disney is ready to invest in all upcoming Avatar sequels as they could prove insanely profitable for the studio.

The Way of Water generated a lot of revenue for Disney by making over $2.3 billion at the worldwide box office. This number ensured that Disney took well over $500 million as pure profits. But a recent report revealed exactly how much profit the Mouse House has pulled out of Avatar: The Way of Water.

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Avatar 2 makes $532 million for Disney

Avatar The Way of water box office (Image via Sportskeeda)

A recent report by Deadline stated that Avatar: The Way of Water was 2022’s most valuable movie. It grossed $683 million at the domestic box office, which brought its total to $2.319 billion globally. Out of this, the Mouse took home close to $1.269 billion as theatrical revenue.

Its further earnings have come from Home Entertainment rentals and TV/streaming deals, which turned in $150 million and $200 million, respectively. However, this number will grow as the film continues to excel in the Home Entertainment space.

But for now, its total revenue stands at $1.619 billion, of which Disney earned $532 million as pure profit because the expenditure on the movie was just a little less than $1.1 billion.

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How much did Disney spend on Avatar 2?

Spider and Miles Quaritch in The Way of Water (Image via 20th Century Studios)

Avatar 2 might be one of the most expensive films, if not the costliest, because it got a humungous production budget of $400 million. Furthermore, $175 million was allocated to print and ads (marketing cost), and Disney spent $72 million on interest and overhead because Avatar 2 kept getting delayed for years.

Another $100 million was spent on video costs and $40 million on residuals, which brought the total cost of Avatar: The Way of Water to $1.087 billion. But since Avatar 2 continues to make money, one can understand why Disney was willing to spend so much on one movie. After all, it was a sequel to the highest-grossing movie of all time.

So, Disney would have spared no cost. Ultimately, Avatar 2 proved to be worth every dollar spent on it. Moving forward, nobody would be surprised if Disney spends a similar amount on Avatar 3 as well.

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Could Avatar 3 deliver similar numbers?

Avatar: The Seed Bearer villains (Image via 20th Century Studios/Disney)

Avatar 3 would definitely benefit from the hype that Avatar: The Way of Water has generated. So, another $2 billion+ result is on the cards because this franchise has the attention of the entire world. But despite all that, it may not outgross its predecessor for multiple reasons.

The original Avatar was a revolutionary movie that garnered global interest. It was presumed that Avatar 2 might not be able to replicate those numbers because the hype for it may not exist anymore. But that proved to be wrong. Being 13 years apart from the original movie worked as The Way of Water turned out to be another revolutionary film in the franchise.

So, the next sequel being just two years apart from Avatar 2, could prove to be a little too much. It won’t have the revolutionary edge that The Way of Water did, but still, it would be interesting to see if the Fire Na’vi clan could push Avatar 3 into the 2 Billion Club as well.

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Avatar: The Seed Bearer arrives on December 20, 2024.