Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ becomes the Czech Republic’s all-time box office champ

After two months in cinemas, Avatar: The Way of Water has officially become the highest-grossing film of all-time at the Czech box office. James Cameron’s epic passed Bohemian Rhapsody‘s 266 million crowns ($12.03 million) this past weekend and now stands alone as the Czech box office champ with 273 million crowns ($12.34 million).

And it’s still going strong. Avatar: The Way of Water was finally unseated atop the Czech box office weekly chart by the new Czech release Ostrov (Island), which took in 8.1 million crowns ($370,000) in its ninth week of release this weekend. Still, the Avatar sequel came in second with a respectable 6.2 million crowns ($280,000).

Next up for The Way of Water is a run at 300 million crowns, which it could reach in March.

In terms of overall ticket sales, meanwhile, Avatar: The Way of Water currently ranks fifth on the Czech Republic’s all-time chart at about 1.34 million admissions. It should pass Kolya (1.35 million tickets) this week, and could tackle the original Avatar (1.43 million) and Women on the Run (Ženy v běhu, at 1.54 million) in the following weeks, but it might have trouble catching Bohemian Rhapsody (1.87 million) for the top slot.

With a worldwide gross of $2.21 billion (nearly 50 billion crowns), Avatar: The Way of Water will pass Titanic for third on the all-time chart in the coming days, though it has a little ways to go to catch up to Avengers: Endgame ($2.8 billion) and the first Avatar ($2.92 billion).

While it took Cameron took 13 years to deliver The Way of Water after the success of the first film, audiences won’t have to wait long for the next entries in the franchise. The director has been hard at work on three additional sequels, which are scheduled to release in 2024, 2026, and 2028.

Given the massive success of Avatar: The Way of Water, the filmmaker hasn’t ruled out extending the franchise beyond his planned five films going forward.

The Czech Republic’s top 20 highest-grossing films of all-time got shook up in the post-pandemic year of 2022. In addition to Avatar: The Way of Water taking the top slot, Top Gun: Maverick is now the country’s sixth-highest-grossing film, Minions: The Rise of Gru comes in at 11, and the Czech film Vyšehrad: Fylm is number 14 on the all-time chart.

These are the 20 highest-grossing films of all-time at the Czech box office:

RankNameGross (millions CZK)Gross (millions $USD)*
1Avatar: The Way of Water273.112.34
2Bohemian Rhapsody266.212.03
3Avatar213.19.63
4Women on the Run (Ženy v běhu)212.99.62
5Avengers: Endgame157.37.11
6Top Gun: Maverick147.46.66
7Angel of the Lord 2 (Anděl Páně 2)146.76.63
8Frozen II129.35.84
9Empties (Vratné lahve)124.65.63
10Women in Temptation (Ženy v pokušení)124.15.61
11Minions: The Rise of Gru113.35.12
12Spider-Man: No Way Home111.95.06
13Minions109.94.96
14Vyšehrad: Fylm108.34.89
15The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies102.74.64
16A Star is Born101.04.56
17Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs100.44.54
18Avengers: Infinity War100.04.52
19Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 299.74.50
20Star Wars: The Force Awakens98.54.45
*Exchange rate as of Feb. 15, 2023

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Jason Pirodsky

Jason Pirodsky has been writing about the Prague film scene and reviewing films in print and online media since 2005. A member of the Online Film Critics Society, you can also catch his musings on life in Prague at expats.cz and tips on mindfulness sourced from ancient principles at MaArtial.com.

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