The week begins strongly for Avatar: The Way of Water as it fetched around Rs 18.50 crore on its first Monday, taking the four-day collection since its release to Rs 150 crore nett.

Audiences continue to flock to cinemas to watch the visual spectacle as the James Cameron directorial has been receiving positive word of mouth on social media thanks to the never-seen-before VFX work.

However, there’s been a slight drop in collections on Monday compared to the first three days after Avatar 2 hit the screens on December 16.

But the Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana-starrer witnessed a better Monday at the box office than the Hindi blockbusters of the year — The Kashmir Files (Rs 15 crore), Brahmastra: Part 1 - Shiva (Rs 14 crore), Drishyam 2 (Rs 11.87 crore) and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (Rs 10.75 crore). Avatar: The Way of Water has become the second biggest opener among Hollywood films in the Indian market. It is registering the major share of its earnings from South India. Only the 2019 Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Endgame reported higher collections (Rs 53 crore) on day one. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water revolves around Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and their kids. Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet, Jamie FLatters, Britain Dalton, Cliff Curtis and Trinity Bliss are also part of this visual epic set in Pandora.