Avatar 2 made one of the twenty best starts of the century, and the best of the year in France, giving hope for a rebound in cinema after the pandemic years, which were more favorable to streaming platforms. Thirteen years after Avatar, which approached three billion euros in revenue, Avatar: The Way of the Water brought together more than 2.7 million spectators in France. According to data from CBO Box Office on Wednesday, it is one of the top twenty starts of the century, when Avatar was only 24th. With 2,739,848 admissions, this second episode of James Cameron’s saga did slightly better than the first in 2009, which had reached 2,648,596 admissions in the first week. It is the 18th best seven-day start in France since 2001 , and the best since Spider-Man: No Way Home in December 2021, with 2,867,515 entries. Before that, we have to go back to 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, to find such a level of entries in the first week. December 14 to 20, marked by the end of the Football World Cup and the semi-final and final played by France. The second episode, at 3:12, is half an hour longer than the first. Set again on the planet Pandora, The Way of the Water is a sequel more than a decade after the events of the inaugural installment. Released on Friday in North America, it had grossed some $134 million across the three first days. Avatar, presented as a technological revolution by its use of 3D, had been one of the greatest successes in the history of cinema. In France, it had totaled 14,638,741 million admissions after nineteen weeks of operation. And all over the world, he had dethroned the box office record already set by the same James Cameron with Titanic in 1997. Freediving filming The director plans five episodes, but has already warned that he will not necessarily be behind the camera every time . The 68-year-old Canadian never ceases to proclaim his fascination with the seabed, which had already found a very successful expression in Titanic, and which flourishes on a planet threatened by human greed. Before conquering the public, the blue universe of Avatar 2 fascinated film critics in France. known frontiers of cinema”, wrote Liberation. “An epic of more than three staggering hours. A great show that metaphorically pays homage to the beauty of our blue planet”, according to L’Humanité. owes a lot to its director, to his scientific genius, his sense of romance and his love of beautiful images”, explained Le Parisien. The filming required colossal technical means, with perilous aquatic filming, in apnea, and an extremely wide range of special effects. James Cameron welcomed the huge team with which he is surrounded. “I like to think that (the production of the film) is like a big hippie community with a bunch of great artists,” the director told AFP. “Technology does not create art. It is the artists who create the art.” Around two thirds of French viewers saw the film in theaters offering 3D HDR and HFR technology, and in the majority of cases, in premium theaters, 20th studios pointed out at the start of the week. Century.
Leave a comment