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Despite economic uncertainty, some donors may be eyeing bigger gifts for 2022, according to a study from Fidelity Charitable.
With many worried about their community or nonprofits, 59% of donors may be willing to give more this year, the findings show.
However, it may be an easier choice with money already given to a donor-advised fund, experts say.

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With lingering high inflation, stock market volatility and recession fears, it’s easy to see why some Americans might trim charitable giving.
But some donors may be eyeing bigger gifts for 2022 because of that economic uncertainty, according to a study from Fidelity Charitable, a nonprofit enabling investors to give through a so-called donor-advised fund, a charitable investment account.

Nearly 75% of those surveyed said they worry about other community members, and 64% are concerned about nonprofits amid threats of a recession. As a result, 59% of donors may be willing to give more this year, according to the survey, which polled 969 of the nonprofit’s donors in July and August.
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Individual Americans donated an estimated $326.87 billion to charity in 2021, a 4.9% rise compared to the prior year, according to Giving USA.
While the organization predicted “a robust year” for giving in 2022, it also emphasized the link between philanthropy and the strength of the stock market. The report came out as the stock market approached record highs in December, but the S&P 500 has dropped more than 20% year-to-date.

Donor-advised funds may make it easier to give

While some donors may be unsure about 2022, it may be an easier choice if you already have money in a donor-advised fund, allowing an upfront donation and the option to pick recipients over time, said certified financial planner David Foster, founder of Gateway Wealth Management in St. Louis. A donor-advised fund is a charitable account for future gifts.

“You’ve already made that decision,” he said. “Now it’s just a matter of doing it a little quicker.”
Indeed, 67% of donors said they have given more to charity than they would have without a donor-advised fund, the Fidelity Charity study shows, and 57% have used their account to “respond to an emergency or disaster situation.”

However, if someone didn’t transfer money upfront, new donations for 2022 may be smaller than previous years due to less income or lower account balances. 
“From my experience, people are still giving roughly the same percentage of either their income or their wealth,” said Foster. “It’s just that their incomes and wealth are down because of the economy.”
“There’s just less wealth to give,” he added.
While donor-advised funds are a popular option, older investors may also consider so-called qualified charitable distributions, or QCDs.

These are direct gifts from an IRA to an eligible charity. If you’re age 70½ or older, you may donate up to $100,000 per year, and it may count as a required minimum distribution once you turn 72.  
“There are relatively few circumstances where that would not be the first source of giving if you’re over 70½,” Foster said.
Although QCDs don’t provide a charitable deduction, the transfer won’t count as part of your adjusted gross income, which can trigger higher Medicare Part B and Part D premiums.

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World Health Organization officials said they are struggling to identify and track new Covid variants as testing and surveillance is rolled back in many countries.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said the virus is spreading rapidly and continues to evolve even as deaths from the disease decline.
The WHO is currently monitoring about 200 omicron sublineages, she said.

RT: Maria Van Kerkhove, Head a.i. Emerging Diseases and Zoonosis at the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks during a news conference on the situation of the coronavirus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, January 29, 2020.
Denis Balibouse | Reuters

The World Health Organization on Thursday warned that it is struggling to identify and track new Covid variants as governments roll back testing and surveillance, threatening the progress made in the fight against the virus.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead, said the virus is still circulating at an “incredibly intense level” around the world. The WHO is “deeply concerned” that it is evolving at a time when there is no longer robust testing in place to help rapidly identify new variants, Van Kerkhove said.

“Our ability to track variants and subvariants around the world is diminishing because surveillance is declining,” Van Kerkhove told reporters during an update in Geneva. “That limits our ability to assess the known variants and subvariants but also our ability to track and identify new ones.”
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Thursday warned there’s the “ever present risk of more dangerous variants emerging” as the virus continues to spread and change. Tedros said “the pandemic is not over but the end is in sight,” contradicting President Joe Biden’s assertion earlier this week that the pandemic had ended.
“We have spent two and a half years in a long dark tunnel and we’re just beginning to glimpse the light at the end of that tunnel, but it’s still a long way off and the tunnel is still dark with many obstacles that could trip us up if we don’t take care,” Tedros said.
The WHO is currently tracking about 200 omicron sublineages, Van Kerkhove said. The global health body is keeping a close eye on omicron BA.2.75, BF.7, and BA.4.6 among other subvariants, she said. Those variants have started to gain a foothold in countries such as the U.S. where omicron BA.5, the fastest spreading variant yet, has been dominant for months.
Health authorities still aren’t able to accurately predict how big Covid surges will be from season to season, Van Kerkhove said. Some public health experts believe the virus will eventually behave similar to the flu, where there are manageable waves of infection during the fall and winter months.

“We don’t yet have predictability with SARS-CoV-2 like we have other types of pathogens where we expect a seasonality. We may get there, but we’re not there that. That’s the message — we’re not there yet,” Van Kerkhove said.
Though the future is uncertain, Tedros said the world is in a “significantly better position” than at any other point during the pandemic. Two-thirds of the world’s population is vaccinated, including three-quarters of health care workers and older people, he said.
Weekly Covid deaths have continued to decline dramatically across all regions of the world and are now 10% of the pandemic’s peak in January 2021, according to WHO data. More than 9,800 people died from Covid during the week ended Sept. 18, down 17% from the prior week.
“In most countries, restrictions have ended and life looks much like it did before the pandemic,” Tedros said. “But 10,000 deaths a week is 10,000 too many when most of these deaths could be prevented.”

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Bed Bath & Beyond is facing a holiday season that will likely be crucial for its survival.
The struggling retailer is contending with a leadership shakeup, a mountain of debt and strained relationships with merchandise suppliers.
A lack of big-name products could further cripple Bed Bath’s already-declining sales and push the company toward bankruptcy.

A person exits a Bed Bath & Beyond store in New York City, June 29, 2022.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Bed Bath & Beyond is betting on a drastic change in strategy and well-recognized brands to revive its struggling business. 
But the retailer’s strained relationships with suppliers of products such as air fryers and stand-mixers – some of which were missing from shelves two holiday seasons ago – could leave stores without hot items once again. Out-of-stock products could cripple Bed Bath’s already-declining sales and push the company toward bankruptcy.

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Bed Bath is fighting to win back customers as it contends with a leadership shakeup, a mountain of debt and the aftermath of a meme-stock frenzy fueled by activist investor Ryan Cohen. On top of that, tensions with merchandise suppliers grew as the company’s problems worsened, according to former executives who recently left the company. They declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak about internal discussions.
Chief Executive Mark Tritton, hired in 2019 to oversee the company’s previous turnaround effort, got ousted by the board this year. Bed Bath’s merchandising chief was also pushed out. Chief Financial Officer Gustavo Arnal, who was integral in lining up a new loan for Bed Bath, died by suicide earlier this month. The company is now led by an interim CEO and interim CFO.
On a call with investors in late August, two days before Arnal’s death, company leaders announced the fresh financing and revealed a new merchandising strategy that heavily relies on national brands to get more people into stores. Under Tritton, Bed Bath launched and tried to grow nine exclusive brands. Bed Bath now intends to sharply scale back those private labels – including discontinuing several.

Bed Bath has merchandise from its remaining store brands to fill shelves. It has deals with direct-to-consumer brands, such as mattress maker Casper, and is trying to court more of them. Yet to deliver on its new plan, Bed Bath must secure steady shipments from brands many shoppers recognize.
Bed Bath leaders say that the strategy shift has been well received. Interim CEO Sue Gove said in August that she’s even received thank you notes from vendors. 

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“As previously shared, we are committed to delivering what our customers want, driving growth and profitability, and strengthening our financial position. We recognize the vital importance of our supplier partners and our team is working continuously with them, where support has been enthusiastic and high, particularly with our largest partners,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement. 
“They want us to win, by supporting the assortment changes previously announced to create the best experience for our shared customers.” Bed Bath plans to give an update on its vendor relationships and strategies when it reports fiscal second quarter earnings next week, she added. 
Over the past two years, however, Bed Bath has tested vendor relationships by making late payments, pushing aggressively into private labels and losing shoppers. Those tensions have intensified as financial troubles mounted, according to the former Bed Bath executives.

Make or break

A customer carries a shopping bag outside a Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. store in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Logan Cyrus | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Vendor relationships can make or break a retailer. Typically, suppliers ship goods and get reimbursed weeks or months later. The terms can change, however, if a retailer shows signs of financial distress – sometimes pushing a vendor to shorten the payment window, require cash on delivery or halt shipments.
Bed Bath has already agreed to tougher payment terms and advance payments for some suppliers, the company said in public filings. Company leaders acknowledged in a call with investors that it was managing vendor relationships on a week to week basis. 
Tension with vendors is often a major reason retailers are pushed toward restructuring. Debt-burdened Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in September 2017, and later liquidated, shortly after its suppliers demanded cash on delivery ahead of the holiday season. Other retailers, such as appliance chain H.H. Gregg and electronics store RadioShack, suffered a similar fate as they struggled to keep shelves stocked and burned through cash due to vendors’ tightened payment terms. 
One factor working in Bed Bath’s favor is that it works with a vast number of vendors, and if needed, could replace one that wouldn’t ship to the retailer. Retailers like Toys “R” Us, as well as sporting goods chain Sports Authority – which liquidated as part of a bankruptcy filing in 2016 – were heavily reliant on very few suppliers to stock their shelves. 
Bed Bath already had a significant debt load prior to the new financing. The retailer has a total of nearly $1.2 billion in unsecured notes – with maturity dates spread across 2024, 2034 and 2044 – which are all trading below par, a sign of its financial distress. In recent quarters, the company said it burned through significant amounts of cash. Despite this, it pressed ahead with an aggressive stock buyback plan that added up to more than $1 billion in repurchases.
The funding announced in August is expected to provide Bed Bath some breathing room and buy it some grace from vendors. But even before the company needed a loan, it lost standing with some of its suppliers, according to the former executives. Bed Bath has tussled with big-name vendors over terms of payment, and executives grew frustrated with smaller shipments of popular products, while seeing other retailers with more of that merchandise – and sometimes exclusive versions.
During the 2020 holidays, air fryers ran low across Bed Bath’s stores. KitchenAid stand mixers, a top item on Christmas lists and wedding registries, were out of stock. The few vacuums and hair styling tools from Dyson that arrived at stores quickly got shipped to online shoppers, leaving store displays bare. Yet at Amazon, Target and Best Buy, those same products were available – and in some cases, even at buzzy promotional prices.
KitchenAid parent company Whirlpool and Dyson didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

Growing troubles

Customers carry bags from Bed Bath & Beyond store on April 10, 2013 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Vendors and licensees, likewise, grew concerned by the pace of Bed Bath’s changes – particularly as the retailer launched its own brands of bedding, kitchen utensils and more. As some brands and manufacturers saw Bed Bath pare down orders quarter after quarter, they looked to other stores and websites. 
The uneasy relationships exacerbated Bed Bath’s supply chain woes during the first two years of the pandemic, when all retailers coped with temporarily shuttered factories, congested ports and a shortage of truck drivers. The company lost $175 million in sales during the three months ended Feb. 26 as several items that were advertised in circulars were out of stock.
Vendors, which had limited supply, had to pick and choose where to send their hot products. As sales declined sharply at Bed Bath’s namesake stores, it had a harder time getting those items – such as Dyson’s hair styling tools or Keurig’s coffee makers– that were available at retail rivals, according to the former executives.
At company meetings, Bed Bath’s small shipments became a frequent theme – with merchandising leaders urging buyers to go to vendors and ask for more. There were also internal concerns that Bed Bath & Beyond was losing its clout and its relevance, the former executives said. 
Bed Bath’s troubles have grown in recent months. Its stock has fallen about 50% this year, its market cap now at about $565 million.
About 60% of total net sales come from Bed Bath’s stores, but its footprint is shrinking. Last week, the company announced the first wave of approximately 150 store closures of its namesake brand. Including Harmon and BuyBuy Baby stores, the company went from nearly 1,500 stores at the end of the first quarter in 2020 to fewer than 1,000 stores at the end of the same period this year. As of February, Bed Bath had roughly 32,000 associates, including approximately 26,000 store associates and about 3,500 supply chain associates. 
Meanwhile, the first wave of holiday merchandise has arrived at stores, including autumn wreaths, pumpkin-print kitchen towels and other fall-themed decor. Much of the merchandise at stores is from Bed Bath & Beyond’s private brands, such as budget-friendly home line Simply Essential.
During a CNBC visit in recent days, Bed Bath’s flagship store in New York City was full of clues that the retailer may not have enough of the hottest items. A Dyson display had six vacuum models – but only one type available for purchase. A display for French cookware company Le Creuset showed off Dutch ovens in many colors, but only had bright orange ones in stock. 
Only one stainless-steel, step-on SimpleHuman garbage can, which retails for $149.99, was boxed and ready to be carried away. However, there were small plastic garbage cans from Bed Bath’s owned brand, spread across multiple rows – selling for $3 each.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor.

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Ford plans to restructure its global supply chain, days after the company said it reported roughly $1 billion in unexpected supplier costs for the third quarter.
The efforts will be led on an interim basis by Ford CFO John Lawler until the company picks someone to fill the newly created chief supply chain officer role.

Ford CEO Jim Farley at the company’s Dearborn, Michigan, plant where it’s building the electric F-150 Lightning on April 26, 2022.
CNBC | Michael Wayland

DETROIT – Ford Motor on Thursday announced plans to restructure its global supply chain, days after the company said it expects to book an extra $1 billion in unexpected supplier costs during the third quarter.
The supply chain restructuring aims to “support efficient and reliable sourcing of components, internal development of key technologies and capabilities, and world-class cost and quality execution,” the automaker said in a release.

The effort will be led on an interim basis by Ford Chief Financial Officer John Lawler until the company selects someone to fill the newly created chief supply chain officer position.
Lawler is stepping in at a time when parts and raw material costs for automakers and suppliers have been soaring during the coronavirus pandemic. The increases have occurred amid severe supply chain problems, including an ongoing global shortage of crucial semiconductor chips.
On Monday, Ford said recent negotiations resulted in inflation-related supplier costs running $1 billion higher than previously expected during the third quarter. The announcement, including a pre-release of some earnings expectations, caused Ford’s stock to have its worst day in more than 11 years.
The restructuring is not directly connected to the automaker’s announcement earlier this week, according to Ford spokesman T.R. Reid. He said changes to Ford’s supply chain have been underway for some time amid the industry’s supply chain problems and its shift to electric vehicles.
“As we’ve acknowledged before, this is an area we’ve gotten better, and there’s still additional room for improvement,” he said.

Jonathan Jennings, Ford vice president of supply chain, will also take additional responsibility for supplier technical assistance and quality, the company said. He will report to Lawler.
The supply chain plans were announced in addition to further executive changes and appointments involving electric vehicles, product development and other areas of the company.
Ford said the changes are an acceleration of CEO Jim Farley’s “Ford+ plan for growth and value creation.”

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Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a “Morning Meeting” livestream at 10:20 a.m. ET. Here’s a recap of Thursday’s key moments. We have no choice but to buy Quick mentions: MRVL, LLY, NVDA, META 1. We have no choice but to buy Stocks slumped on Thursday, continuing their losing streak after tumbling on the back of another large interest rate hike and hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve. Despite the volatility, we believe that now is an opportunity to buy for several reasons. Our trusted S & P 500 Short Range Oscillator finally showed the market as oversold. In addition, the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey shows that over 60% of members are bearish, which is the highest level of negative sentiment since March 2009. While it’s typically prudent to get out of the market when sentiment is that negative, if you do so now, you’ll regret it in a week, according to Jim Cramer. “As counterintuitive as that is, we’ve waited, and waited and waited,” he said. “Now, we have to do some buying.” After the meeting, Jim decided on Microsoft (MSFT) and subsequently we put out a trade alert on it. 2. Quick mentions: PG, MRVL, LLY, NVDA, META Here are quick takes on some Club names: Jim said that Procter & Gamble (PG) is a buy right here. While its supply costs seem to be going down, the company does not appear to be making huge price cuts. Marvell (MRVL) is performing well — but the market doesn’t seem to care. However, we still have faith in the stock. Check out CEO Matt Murphy’s comments on the company’s beleaguered stock price from Wednesday’s “Mad Money.” UBS upgraded Eli Lilly (LLY) to a buy on Thursday, arguing that the pharmaceutical company’s type-2 diabetes drug, Mounjaro, could be “the biggest drug ever” if it gets obesity approval, too. We’ve long believed that this drug will game changing, and we recommend that investors pick up shares of LLY if they don’t own any already. We are holding off on buying back any shares of Nvidia (NVDA). While the company appears bullish on the future of gaming , we still think that it will continue to disappoint in its earnings results, which means the stock will go lower. At that point, we’ll consider buying some shares. We believe that Meta (META) is a buy right here because WhatsApp growth is accelerating, made clear by its recent deal with Salesforce (CRM). We are also bullish on the metaverse. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long MRVL, LLY, NVDA, META, CRM. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. More

The Senate voted to ratify a global climate treaty that will phase down the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, chemicals widely used in air conditioning and refrigeration.
The 2016 Kigali Amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol treaty dramatically curbs the use of HFCs, which are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at heating up the Earth.
The Environmental Protection Agency has said that regulatory action on such chemicals could help avoid up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by the end of the century.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to the media after the 51-50 vote passed the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. August 7, 2022. 
Ken Cedeno | Reuters

The Senate has voted to ratify a global climate treaty that will phase down the use and production of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, the climate-warming chemicals widely used in air conditioning and refrigeration.
The Senate voted 69-27 on Wednesday to move forward the 2016 Kigali Amendment, an amendment to the 1987 Montreal Protocol climate treaty that dramatically curbs the use of HFCs, which are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at heating up the Earth. Forty-eight Democrats and 21 Republicans voted in favor; four members of the Senate did not vote.

The Environmental Protection Agency has said that regulatory action on such chemicals could help avoid up to 0.5 degrees Celsius of global warming by the end of the century. Emissions from HFCs rose between 2018 and 2019, according to the EPA, as demand for air conditioning and refrigeration rose amid record high temperatures in the U.S.
“This is a win-win in our fight against climate change and will go a long way to battle rising global temperatures while also creating tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday.
Shortly after taking office, President Joe Biden issued an executive order requesting that Congress ratify the Kigali Amendment, among a series of other federal actions to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions. 
The U.S. joins 136 other nations and the European Union in ratifying the amendment.

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“Ratifying the Kigali Amendment will allow us to lead the clean technology markets of the future, by innovating and manufacturing those technologies here in America,” Biden said in a statement. “Ratification will spur the growth of manufacturing jobs, strengthen U.S. competitiveness and advance the global effort to combat the climate crisis.” 

Environmental groups, politicians and industry groups have largely supported the worldwide phase-down of HFCs as a critical way to combat climate change and advance more sustainable technologies.
“HVACR companies and other stakeholders, from business to environmental groups, have urged the Senate to ratify the strongly bipartisan Kigali Amendment,” said Stephen Yurek, CEO for the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute.
“[Kigali] counts for the jobs it will create; it counts for global competitive advantage it creates; it counts with the additional exports that will result and it counts for U.S. technology preeminence,” Yurek said.
Congress in 2020 passed the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act as part of an appropriations bill, allowing the EPA to start regulating the chemicals and force industries to curb production and imports of HFCs by 85% over 15 years.

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Amazon averaged 13 million viewers for its first “Thursday Night Football” stream, according to Nielsen data released by the tech giant.
Amazon Prime Video will stream the NFL’s Thursday night games through 2033.
The tech giant is paying around $1 billion a year for the NFL’s first exclusive deal with a streaming platform.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) is sacked by Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Drue Tranquill (49) in the first quarter at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Tammy Ljungblad | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Amazon Prime averaged 13 million viewers for its debut live stream of “Thursday Night Football,” according to Nielsen figures released by the tech giant a week after the game.
The average for the Sept. 15 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers surpassed the viewership of 8.84 million on the NFL Network from the same week in 2021, according to data released by Amazon. The stream was the most-watched program of the night, the Amazon release added. No. 2 was CBS’ “Young Sheldon,” with 3.5 million viewers.

Amazon is the first streaming service to hold exclusive rights to a package of NFL games, in a deal that will cost the tech giant about $1 billion a year through 2033. The company partnered with Nielsen in August to track the audience data.
Amazon also previously said that it saw record Prime signups in the three-hour period of the game, beating the new subscriber additions on Prime Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Amazon Prime has around 200 million subscribers worldwide.
“By every measure, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video was a resounding success,” Jay Marine, global head of Amazon’s sports division, wrote late Monday in a memo to staff.
The company reported that the average age of the audience was six years younger than the typical linear NFL audience, at 47 years old versus 53 years old. The stream was also reportedly rated 18% higher than any other NFL telecast thus far this season.
Amazon also partnered with DirecTV in a multiyear agreement for the satellite TV provider to air Thursday night games in more than 300,000 bars, restaurants, hotels and casinos. Nielsen’s data spans across streams on all platforms.
Amazon’s game stream provides viewers with the company’s so-called next-generation statistics as well as the play-by-play stylings of former “Sunday Night Football” announcer Al Michaels and college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit. Fans can pay $14.99 for a full Amazon Prime subscription or $8.99 for a Prime Video subscription to view the games.

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James Cameron’s “Avatar” returns to domestic cinemas this weekend, three months before the release of the sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Bringing the highest-grossing film in cinematic history back to theaters has two purposes for Disney: drum up excitement for the Avatar franchise and fill a vacant spot on the theatrical calendar.
Estimates for the film’s rerelease range from $7 million to $12 million, with box-office analysts saying a figure in the mid-teens would be “huge.”

Source: Walt Disney Studios

The Na’vi return to the big screen this weekend as Disney looks to reignite interest in its newly acquired Avatar franchise, three months before the debut of the long-delayed sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Bringing the highest-grossing film of all time back to theaters has two purposes for Disney: drum up excitement for “The Way of Water” and fill a vacant spot on the theatrical calendar. The sequel is one of four due over the next decade.

The rerelease of the original film is a sort of litmus test for whether audiences still want to visit its eco-conscious science fiction world.
“Many questions have been asked about the film’s pop culture legacy over the past decade, but we also have to remember that James Cameron has been doubted before and proven many wrong,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.

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Directed by Cameron, the mastermind behind “Titanic” and “The Terminator,” “Avatar” opened in late 2009 to wide acclaim and massive financial success, eventually earning nine Oscar nominations. But it never captured the cultural relevance that Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe – both also owned by Disney – have enjoyed. Toy sales fizzled and cosplayers donning heavy blue makeup at pop culture fan conventions have become few and far between.
“Naturally all eyes will be on the box office performance this weekend, as this may serve as an indicator of audience interest in the December release of ‘The Way of Water,'” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
“Avatar” captivated audiences more than a decade ago, in part because of the technology that Cameron helped develop to film and animate the movie. The film was shot using the Fusion Camera System, which was created by Cameron and cinematographer Vince Pace. Academy Award-nominated films like Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” and Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” also utilized this camera system.
Previous systems used two cameras because filmmakers had determined that the human brain processed different information from different sides of the brain. So, one part of the brain would process the image’s movement, while the other would process what was happening in the image.

Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, “Avatar: The Way of Water” tells the story of the Sully family.

Cameron and Pace devised a camera that could capture images the same way that a human eye does. The results were breathtaking — just look at the ticket sales. 
During its initial run, “Avatar” snared $2.78 billion globally. It added additional ticket sales throughout the years through rereleases, and reclaimed the box-office crown from “Avengers: Endgame” in 2021 when it was redistributed in China, topping $2.84 billion.
The majority of tickets sold for the film were for 3D showings, which tend to be more expensive than regular tickets. These premium tickets alongside, an extended nine-month run in theaters, helped bolster “Avatar’s” total box-office haul.
“We know that IMAX and other [premium format] screens are a major driver for the business now and going forward, but 3D’s popularity in North America waned quickly in the years after the first ‘Avatar’s’ original release,” Robbins said. “With very rare exceptions, 3D simply began to turn off many moviegoers for a variety of reasons — some of which filmmakers can control, but not all.”
This “3D gold rush” in the wake of “Avatar,” as Dergarabedian calls it, led to an oversaturation of the market. Many of the 3D releases were conversions of movies that were not well suited for the format and, thus, quality declined and so did interest from audiences.
While 3D films have fallen out of favor with domestic audiences, they remain exceptionally popular internationally – especially in China. Indeed, “Avatar” made the bulk of its money outside of the U.S. — a whopping $2.08 billion.
“If I’m reading between the lines for this distribution plan, it seems like Disney and 20th Century Studios are gauging the state of 3D’s branding and they may use the box-office results to inform how ‘The Way of Water’ is handled,” Robbins said. “While Cameron will want to push the 3D version for fans who want to see it the way he filmed it for, it’s also hard to ignore the very large audience out there who has never become as enamored with the format as they have with other 2D premium viewing options.”
Current estimates for the film’s rerelease range from $7 million to $12 million, with box-office analysts saying a figure in the mid-teens would be “huge.” It’s also facing stiff competition from the historical action epic “The Woman King,” which had a strong opening this past weekend and could be primed for a long, successful run at the box office.
“It would be a massive understatement to say that there is a lot riding on the ‘Avatar’ brand and with at least three more filmed installments on the way,” Dergarabedian said. “The rerelease of the original this weekend will be the linchpin for what the future holds for the universe of Pandora and beyond.”

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