Avatar: Fire and Ash surpasses $US1 billion in global box office

Fire and Ash has picked up where the previous Avatar film left off, raking in a billion dollars as cinemagoers flock to the science fiction visual spectacle.

Dawn Chmielewski
Reuters
The third Avatar film has again proven the fantasy franchise's status as box office blockbuster. (AP PHOTO)
The third Avatar film has again proven the fantasy franchise's status as box office blockbuster. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAP

James Cameron’s science-fiction fantasy Avatar: Fire and Ash has surpassed $US1 billion ‍in global box office proceeds, the director’s fourth film to cross that threshold.

The film, which returned audiences to the visually stunning planet of Pandora, has brought ⁠in $US1.03 billion ($A1.54 billion) in worldwide ticket sales, Walt Disney Studios said on Sunday.

Fire and Ash is the third movie in the Avatar series, which has earned a combined $US6.35 billion ($A9.5 billion) globally. The movie picks up where the second film The Way of Water left off, with characters Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) mourning ‍the loss of a son.

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“These movies consistently draw audiences to the movie theatre,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore head of marketplace trends, who noted that the visually stunning 3D films are “tailor made” for watching in theatres.

The first film in the franchise, Avatar, which opened ‌in 2009 and brought in $US2.9 billion in ticket sales worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing movie ever in absolute dollars, according to Comscore.

It is, however, behind the 1939 classic Gone With the ‍Wind if box office returns are adjusted for inflation and average ticket prices over the decades.

Thirteen years later, in 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water opened, grossed more than $US2.3 billion globally and won an Oscar for best achievement in visual effects.

The latest instalment, released in time for the holiday season, racked up $US306 million in the US and Canada, and $US777.1 million internationally, Disney reported.

Cameron’s first billion-dollar blockbuster was Titanic, released in 1997, which has brought in nearly $US2.3 billion, worldwide.

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