As Avatar: The Way of Water continues its incredible run at the box office, it just joined a special class of movies that also includes the MCU's Avengers: Endgame.
James Cameron has proven himself to be a box office juggernaut over the years, now boasting three of the five highest-grossing movies in the history of cinema. Still holding the top spot with Avatar, he’s only been challenged recently by Avengers: Endgame, the MCU’s culmination event of the Infinity Saga that shattered records in 2019.
Avatar 2 has put up an incredible run for Cameron as well, breaking records nearly every week at the box office and becoming only his latest in a long line of mega-hits. The sequel even earned the title of the highest-grossing movie of the pandemic era, surpassing Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: No Way Home by a fairly wide margin as it rises up the charts.
Avatar 2 Sits With Avengers: Endgame Box Office Milestone
Variety revealed that Avatar: The Way of Water is now the third-highest-grossing movie in history at the global box office, surpassing the totals of James Cameron's Titanic.
The Avatar sequel now boasts a $2.2433 billion total at the box office while Titanic sits at $2.2428 billion, even after the latter was re-released in theaters earlier this month to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Now, Avatar 2 sits in the Top 3 global box office list alongside the original Avatar ($2.9237 billion) from 2009 and Avengers: Endgame ($2.7994 billion) from 2019.
The five highest-grossing movies in history by worldwide gross are now as follows:
- Avatar - $2.9237B
- Avengers: Endgame - $2.7994B
- Avatar: The Way of Water - $2.2433B
- Titanic - $2.2428B
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens - $2.0713B
Will Avatar 2 Slow Down at Box Office?
Avatar 2 has had incredible legs at the box office, coming in at the top of the domestic box office for seven full weeks before being dethroned. Even with other formidable challengers like the aforementioned No Way Home and Tom Cruise's triumphant return with Top Gun: Maverick, James Cameron's second trip to Pandora was an overwhelming success.
Cameron is now one of only two directors in history with two movies that grossed over $2 billion globally, joining Joe and Anthony Russo after their efforts on Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
But now, the question that remains is just how far Avatar 2 can climb up the charts. At this point, there may not be much more room to move ahead.
Endgame sits more than $500 million clear of Avatar 2 at nearly $2.8 billion in total with the Pandoran sequel already being in theaters for more than two full months. It would need a subsantial push over the coming weeks, even considering how long Disney is likely to keep the movie in theaters, in order to make up the half-billion dollar deficit with the current runner up on the box office list.
Whether that happens or not, this record alone is an unreal accomplishment, as only six movies in film history have surpassed the $2 billion mark. And with Cameron already hard at work on Avatar 3 ahead of its December 2024 release, many are already expecting him to come back with a vengeance as his first two movies in this story cleared $5 billion all on their own.
Avatar: The Way of Water is still playing in theaters.
