International Box Office 2022: Gains & Growing Pains Amid Product Gaps; Global Studio Rankings

Earlier this week, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water became the No. 5 highest-grossing movie ever worldwide, and, as expected, has now surfed to the No. 4 position on the all-time chart. In so doing, it leaves Star Wars: The Force Awakens in its wake with nearly $2.075B globally. 

With Wednesday’s worldwide box office grosses included, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has surpassed $2.054B globally, and jumped up a notch on the all-time worldwide chart. 

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is a bonafide puss in loot, as it will cross the $300M mark globally with today’s grosses included. 

Refresh for latest…: It’s now official, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has become the sixth movie ever to cross the $2B mark worldwide. It is also the filmmaker’s third to hit the milestone, alongside Titanic and the original Avatar.

Shark Tank EP Phil Gurin has launched a global distribution outfit.

Refresh for latest…: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water continues to outdo itself having crossed $1.8B globally and reaching nearly $1.9B at the worldwide box office through this weekend.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here relaying a hugely busy week in the world of film and TV as the post-Christmas blues are very much washed away. Read on.

In theory, international films can earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in any given year. But in reality, only a handful have ever attained that distinction, and a single one — Parasite — has claimed the prize.

Blue An, Film.UA & ZDF Team On Zelenskyy Doc ‘Citizens At War’

Reading the tea leaves with regard to China in 2023 is even more difficult than usual. The country’s about-face on its longstanding zero-Covid policy has implications from geopolitics to economics and, closer to home for Hollywood, the state of the market after a dismal 2022. Exactly what those implications are is where the guesswork comes in.

Refresh for latest…: That was fast. Coming out of its fourth weekend of release, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has topped $1.7B globally and become the No. 7 biggest movie of all time worldwide.

Global box office for 2022 reached nearly $26B, a 27% gain on the previous year, according to Gower Street Analytics. Of the estimated $25.9B total, the international box office represents $18.4B, a 16% increase on last year at current exchange rates, the total being dragged down by China. Stripping out that market, overseas is estimated at $14.1B for a 55% hike on 2021. Domestic was up 65% to $7.5B for a 65% increase, per Gower’s partners at comScore.

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has now officially, and as projected, crossed the $1 billion mark at the international box office with Tuesday’s grosses included. What’s more for this 20th Century Studios/Disney juggernaut, at $1,482.5M worldwide through Tuesday, the epic sci-fi sequel is next on its way to yet another milestone and will top $1.5B global when today’s numbers are factored. In doing so, it will become the No. 1 worldwide release of 2022, surpassing Top Gun: Maverick’s $1.489B.

Hong Kong’s box office managed to stage a partial recovery in the second half of 2022, despite cinemas being closed for nearly four months earlier in the year, due to US titles including Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way Of Water and a strong line-up of local movies.

No surprise here: Walt Disney is the No. 1 studio at the box office, not just worldwide with $4.9 billion, but also domestic with $2 billion and overseas with $2.9 billion. This comes after an initial New Year’s weekend which saw Avatar: The Way of Water overperforming, that pic contributing close to $1 billion abroad. It’s the 7th consecutive year that Disney ahs been No. 1 at the global box office, from 2016-2022.

Ukrainian Under-21 international Max Kucheriavyi feels St Johnstone is the best place for his development after committing his future to the club.

French cinemas amassed nearly 152 million admissions in 2022, new data from the National Cinema Center (CNC) shows. That’s an estimated 26.9% off the pre-pandemic three-year average (2017-2019), and an estimated 59.2% hike on 2021 which endured 138 days of movie theater closures. France reports its box office in terms of admissions, however, the total for the year is expected to exceed $1 billion.

China’s box office in 2022 dropped 36% versus 2021, reaching approximately RMB 30B ($4.35B). According to China.org, citing figures from the China Film Administration, 85% of the 2022 revenue was generated by local movies, led by The Battle at Lake Changjin II with RMB 4.07B ($636M at historical rates, per comScore). This past weekend, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water became the highest-grossing studio import of the year, overtaking Jurassic World Dominion with an estimated $152.8M through Sunday.