The huge success of Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron's sequel which is approaching $2 billion at the global box office, proves that "movies are back with a resurgence," the director said.
he huge success of Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron's sequel which is approaching $2 billion at the global box office, proves that "movies are back with a resurgence" after the pandemic, the Canadian director said.
"We've had a year to see that this resurgence isn't just a fluke, or just one film," Cameron told AFP this week in Los Angeles, pointing to other recent mega-grossing blockbusters including Top Gun: Maverick and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
"You've seen a pattern," added Cameron, after having his handprints immortalized in cement at Hollywood's famous TCL Chinese Theatre.
Avatar: The Way of Water came 13 years after the original film, which remains the highest grossing movie of all time, amassing $2.9 billion at the global box office.
Even if the sequel -- which transplants the 3D action to a new underwater setting -- does not quite scale those heights, it is already the seventh biggest film of all time by ticket sales.
That remarkable success has helped to reinvigorate the movie theater industry, which has been slammed by competition from streamers, and apathy about the movie-going experience since the pandemic.
In the United States alone some 500 theaters have disappeared since the arrival of Covid-19 forced costly closures, according to the National Association of Theater Owners.
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