--- title: The Way of Water gets a boost from China - The Hustle description: But how long will it last? image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/924196203-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-12T003535.559Z.webp --- # The Way of Water gets a boost from China ![Jacob Cohen](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png?width=48&height=48&name=IMG_5670-1-modified-768x768.png) [Jacob Cohen](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen) [Jacob Cohen Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/ImJacobCohen) Published: January 12, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 Recommendation: If you haven’t yet seen *Avatar: The Way of Water* — IMAX, fifth row is the right way to do it. 4D seems cool, too, though a tad violent. ![The Way of Water gets a boost from China](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/924196203-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-12T003535.559Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=924196203-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-12T003535.559Z.webp) The film has earned [$1.75B](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1630029/?ref_=bo_tt_ti) at the box office. Those earnings include [$189.4m](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/china-box-office-avatar-2-lunar-new-year-projection-1235293285/) in China, despite a surge of covid infections there, according to *The Hollywood Reporter*. - Chinese ticketing app Maoyan projects the film will peak at $222m — more than the $202m *Avatar* collected in China a decade ago, when there were [~5.7k](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/box-office-avatar-china-1235276739/) movie screens in the country. Today, there are 82k+. Attention could dwindle, though, with the Lunar New Year coming up, when a host of domestic films will hit theaters — among them, *The Wandering Earth 2*. The first *Wandering Earth* pulled in $700m in 2019 (and is on Netflix, in case you’re interested). “We’re [going] back to theaters around the world,” *Avatar* director James Cameron [told](https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1612958640935157760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1612958640935157760%7Ctwgr%5Efd6b3803e78814907b6578188424a9a3dee65e23%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2023%2Ffilm%2Fnews%2Fjames-cameron-disses-streaming-praises-avatar-2-box-office-1235484581%2F) *Variety*. “They’re even going back to theaters in China.” He added, “Enough with the streaming already — I’m tired of sitting on my ass.” Topics: [Movies](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/movies) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![When a $789m film franchise turns risky](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/373079265-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Expandables_20230921215625.webp) ### When a $789m film franchise turns risky - ![How IMAX keeps reeling in the big bucks](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1709714896-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-IMAX_20230629233556.webp) ### How IMAX keeps reeling in the big bucks - ![Pixar’s box office mojo is out of its element](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1828000125-httpsmedia.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesOlder20DatesApril2010202023Pixar-v2-597x1024.webp) ### Pixar’s box office mojo is out of its element - ![Barbie used up all the pink paint](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/143580975-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-barbie_20230606223657.webp) ### Barbie used up all the pink paint - ![How mermaids are flipping profits in the deep blue sea](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/184571649-httpsthe-hustle.hubspot.comhubfsDaily20Newsletter20ImagesMay2030202023Little-Mermaid.webp) ### How mermaids are flipping profits in the deep blue sea - ![Movie theaters need Avatar to be a tortoise](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1621876651-HS-News-Brief_2022-12-20T014006.829Z.webp) ### Movie theaters need Avatar to be a tortoise - ![Fewer movie screens, more fun stuff](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/44882082-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-27T013417.152Z.webp) ### Fewer movie screens, more fun stuff - ![It’s game time for a horror giant](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/209472429-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-23T015919.413Z.webp) ### It’s game time for a horror giant - ![Why even QVC has a holiday rom-com](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/981633169-HS-News-Brief_2022-11-22T031145.529Z.webp) ### Why even QVC has a holiday rom-com - ![Secret Cinema’s wild, immersive screenings](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/397277193-HS-News-Brief_2022-09-27T000606.625Z.webp) ### Secret Cinema’s wild, immersive screenings Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. 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Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jacob Cohen", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/jacob-cohen" }, "datePublished" : "2023-01-12T08:38:21.000Z", "headline" : "The Way of Water gets a boost from China", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/924196203-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-12T003535.559Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/01122023-biggest-movies", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jacob Cohen", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/jacob-cohen" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:37:21+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-01-12T08:38:21+0000", "headline" : "The Way of Water gets a boost from China", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/924196203-HS-News-Brief_2023-01-12T003535.559Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```