Avatar: The Way of Water has to earn a ridiculous amount of money at the box office in order to turn a profit.
The costly film’s budget ballooned due to the creation of technology required by James Cameron to depict the film’s extended underwater sequences.
In the director’s own words, the sequel to the 2009 blockbuster – which is the most successful film of all time – is “very f***ing” expensive.
In an interview with GQ, Cameron said the film cost so much that he told the studio that Avatar: The Way of Water represented “the worst business case in movie history”.
Elaborating on this, Cameron said that in order for the film to start making back more money than it cost, it would have to become “the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history”.
“That’s your threshold,” he said, adding: “That’s your break even.”
The third and fourth highest-grossing films of all time are Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: infinity War, which have takings of $2.05bn (£1.72bn) and $2.04bn (£1.7bn), respectively.
Cameron has two films in the top five, with Titanic in third place with takings of $2.2bn (£2.19bn) and Avatar in the top spot with $2.9bn (£2.4bn).
Sitting in the middle is Avengers: Endgame with $2.79bn (£2.45bn).
Elsewhere in the interview, Cameron shared his thoughts on why Kate Winslet agreed to work with him again despite once suggesting she wouldn’t due to a “frightening” experience she had when shooting Cameron’s Titanic.
Avatar: The Way of Water is released in cinemas on 16 December.
