Avatar 2 Is One Of Disney's Biggest 2023 Box Office Hits — Despite Being Released In 2022
It has been an odd year for Disney at the box office. The studio has had more misfires than it has had successes — and even some of those successes were pretty muted. "Elemental" is perhaps the prime example as Pixar's latest seemed straight-up doomed on arrival before having a miraculous turnaround, leading it to a $496 million worldwide take against a $200 million budget. Most of the studio's other big-budget films haven't been quite as lucky. To illustrate that point, James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" actually remains one of the studio's highest-grossing movies of 2023 despite the fact that it was released in 2022.
"The Way of Water" hit theaters on December 16, 2022, capping off a 13-year journey for the sequel. It made a ridiculous amount of money before the calendar rolled over to 2023 and ultimately wound up as the third biggest movie of all time with $2.32 billion to its name, trailing only "Avengers: Endgame" ($2.8 billion) and the original "Avatar" ($2.92 billion). "The Way of Water" made $684 million domestically and, of that total, $283 million was earned during 2023, per Box Office Mojo. That figure represents more than all but two of Disney's movies released this year.
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" ($359 million domestic/$845 million worldwide) and "The Little Mermaid" ($298 million domestic/$569 million worldwide) are the only other movies released by the studio in 2023 that made more. From there, it's a pretty steep drop-off as we get to "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" ($214 million domestic/$476 million worldwide) and "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" ($174 million domestic/$384 million worldwide). And, for what it's worth, only "Guardians" is assuredly going to profit in its theatrical run. These other movies were cursed by inflated budgets. Particularly "Dial of Destiny," which cost a whopping $295 million to produce.
Good for James Cameron, bad for Disney
This runs in stark contrast to the Disney of just a handful of years ago, particularly pre-pandemic. Let us never forget that this is the studio that had seven (count 'em, seven!) movies that made at least $1 billion worldwide in 2019. In 2023, not a single movie released by the studio is going to reach that benchmark, despite the fact that Disney released seven movies — "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" ($250 million), "The Little Mermaid" ($250 million), "Quantumania" ($200 million), "Dial of Destiny" ($295 million), "Elemental" ($200 million), "Wish" ($200 million), and "The Marvels" ($250 million) — that cost $200 million or more to produce, as well as "Haunted Mansion," which cost $150 million and topped out at just $117 million worldwide.
Even 2022 was far kinder to the Mouse House with movies like "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" ($436 million domestic/$859 million worldwide), "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" ($411 million domestic/$955 million worldwide), and "Thor: Love and Thunder" ($343 million domestic/$761 million worldwide) doing big numbers. But the studio also suffered giant flops like "Lightyear" and "Strange World," making it an uneven year at best. The pandemic era has not been kind to Disney, to say the least of it.
Meanwhile, Cameron is set to be a cash cow for the studio for years to come, as "Avatar 3" is due to hit theaters in December 2025, with "Avatar 4" and "Avatar 5" scheduled to follow in 2029 and 2031, respectively. That is, assuming all five entries in the planned saga go the distance. What's truly striking is that this franchise was inherited in Disney's acquisition of Fox and wasn't something homegrown. As the numbers illustrate, this was a much-needed win for the studio, no matter how it came about.