Unbelievable amount of records Avatar series has broken as Fire and Ash lands in cinemas

When Avatar was released back in 2009, it broke an unbelievable amount of records, still holding on to many of them today.

And the franchise’s unprecedented return in 2022 with The Way of the Water continued that history-setting legacy of greatness.

As the third outing, Fire and Ash lands in cinemas, let’s take a look at the truly unbelievable amount of world records these movies have claimed.

James Cameron’s Avatar is the highest-grossing PG-13 movie, the highest-grossing 3D film and the overall highest-grossing film at the global box office after making a worldwide lifetime gross of $2,923,706,026 (£2,410,657,016; €2,729,224,025) according to The Numbers as of 14 March 2023.

On 1 January 2010, it pulled in a massive $25.2 million (£16.8 million) to make it the highest-grossing New Year's Day movie.

And it’s also the highest-grossing action film at the global box office and the highest-grossing science fiction movie of all time.

The film was such a massive success that it became the first movie to gross over $2 billion.

Avatar was a classic example of you get out what you put in as it also broke the record for most expensive film produced with an estimated production budget of $425 million (£261.3 million), the largest production budget given to a movie.

It was also the largest motion-capture project with three years of motion-capture by Giant Studios in Los Angeles, USA.

80 people were motion-captured by Giant Studio for the film, the highest number of actors motion-captured for a movie.

And with a  total of 150x80x40 ft (45x24x12 m) on the Kong stage in Wellington, New Zealand, the film also broke the record for largest area to be motion-captured.

Avatar’s success went beyond the box office and it also became the first 3D movie to win the Best Cinematography Oscar and the fastest-selling Blu-ray disc of all time.

Image credit: Disney

Director Cameron, also behind 1997’s Titanic, is also the director with most movies to gross over $1 billion.

When The Way of the Water hit cinemas in 2022, it earned the franchise a new record.

That movie, as well as the original’s box office success made it the highest-grossing movie series (average/movie) with an average gross of $2,607,691,829 (£2,150,096,675; €2,434,230,776) at the global box office as of 14 March 2023.

Since that record is based on an average, the release of Fire and Ash could extend it or cause it to be lost, depending on how much it makes at the box office.

Brian Ellerman from The Numbers thinks the movie stands a very good chance of earning enough to keep this record in Avatar’s hands.

He told us: “Based on our projections, Avatar: Fire and Ash is set to earn $630 million in domestic box office revenue. Factoring in international markets, the franchise is expected to maintain its record-setting per movie/average status."

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Second outing, The Way of the Water earned its own records too.

It became the largest underwater motion-capture project with cast and crew completing 250,000 dives over an 18-month period.

A pair of giant water tanks – the larger of the two measuring 120 feet long, 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep, and capable of holding more than 250,000 gallons of water – were built at Manhattan Beach Studios in California.

The water had to be crystal clear in order for the motion-capture technology to work underwater, meaning actors and camera operators couldn’t use scuba gear.

Cast members such as Sam Worthington and Kate Winslet studied freediving with elite coach Kirk Krack in order to learn how to perform for minutes at a time below the surface.

Winslet, who plays Ronal, actually broke a record thanks to learning this new skill.

With an incredible total of 7 minutes 15 seconds, she earned the title for longest breath-hold on screen (lead actor).

She wasn’t the only actress to break records in her role.

The Way of the Water was the fourth movie to gross $2 billion that Zoe Saldaña starred in.

Her portrayal of Neytiri earned her the record for most films to surpass 2 billion US dollars at the global box office by an actress.

The others were Avatar (2009), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019).

Header image: Disney