“Avatar: Fire and Ash” Surpasses $1 Billion at the Global Box Office

James Cameron’s science-fiction epic Avatar: Fire and Ash has crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box office, becoming the director’s fourth film to reach that milestone.

The latest installment in the Avatar franchise has generated $1.03 billion in worldwide ticket sales, Walt Disney Studios said on Sunday. The film returns audiences to the visually immersive world of Pandora and continues Cameron’s long-running success in translating cutting-edge spectacle into box-office dominance.

Fire and Ash is the third entry in the series, which has now amassed a combined $6.35 billion in global receipts. The story picks up where 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water left off, following Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) as they grapple with the loss of a son.

“These films consistently draw audiences back to movie theaters,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore. He noted that the franchise’s richly detailed, three-dimensional visuals are “tailor-made for the theatrical experience.”

The original Avatar, released in 2009, earned $2.9 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of all time in nominal terms, according to Comscore. Adjusted for inflation and historical ticket prices, however, it still trails the 1939 classic Gone With the Wind.

Thirteen years later, Avatar: The Way of Water debuted in 2022, surpassing $2.3 billion in global box-office revenue and winning the Academy Award for best visual effects.

Released ahead of the holiday season, Fire and Ash has collected $306 million in the United States and Canada, alongside $777.1 million from international markets, Disney reported.

Cameron’s first billion-dollar success came with Titanic in 1997, which has since earned nearly $2.3 billion worldwide—cementing his reputation as one of the most commercially reliable filmmakers in cinema history.

Source: REUTERS