Avatar: The Way of Water has finally lost its top domestic box office spot after spending the last seven weekends in the driver's seat.
The box office may have taken a hiatus due to the pandemic, but Hollywood has only been on the up and up over the last year. Although the superhero genre returned to its former glory with hits like Spider-Man: No Way Home, there have been other huge successes such as Top Gun: Maverick and, recently, Avatar 2.
Following on from the record-breaking glory of 2009's Avatar, expectations were high for James Cameron to produce another chart-topper. And the director certainly delivered after toppling records, making box office milestones for himself, and helping actress Zoe Saldana achieve make acting history.
But all good things must come to an end, and after spending seven chart-topping weeks at the box office almost uncontested, competition has finally arrived to take the top spot away from The Way of Water.
Avatar 2 Breaks Its Insane Box Office Winning Streak
According to Deadline, after spending seven weeks atop the domestic box office, Avatar: The Way of Water has lost its top spot to the M. Night Shyamalan-directed and Dave Bautista-led Knock at the Cabin. The success of the mystery-horror marks the seventh number-one opening for the acclaimed filmmaker.
While Avatar 2 took home $16 million domestically last week, that figure dropped to $10.2 million during its eighth and latest weekend. This placed the blockbuster sequel behind both Knock at the Cabin's $14.5 million and 80 for Brady's estimated $13 million domestic gross.
The Way of Water currently stands at $635.8 million domestically for a $2.133 billion worldwide total. James Cameron's Pandoran adventure now sits as the tenth highest-grossing movie of all time domestically and fourth worldwide, with only $54 million remaining before it dethrones Titanic for the third place spot worldwide.
The domestic box office totals for this weekend (February 3 to 5) are as follows:
- Knock at the Cabin - $14.5M (Week 1)
- 80 for Brady - $13M (Week 1)
- Avatar: The Way of Water - $10.2M (Week 8)
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - $7.9M (Week 7)
- The Chosen Season 3 Finale - $6.6M (Week 1)
How Much Box Office Steam Does Avatar 2 Have Left?
Just as four re-releases have added around $180 million to Avatar's box office total since its original 2009 run concluded, fans should expect The Way of Water to ultimately receive a similar treatment. There will undoubtedly be a particular push on that front closer to December 2024's Avatar 3.
Although they will almost certainly never be enough to push the current $2.133 billion worldwide total anywhere near Avengers: Endgame's $2.798B second-place spot, it may take The Way of Water past Titanic's $2.188 billion - which the original release may still be enough to crawl its way past in the coming weeks.
The current highest-grossing movies of all time worldwide can be seen below:
- Avatar - $2.923B
- Avengers: Endgame - $2.798B
- Titanic - $2.188B
- Avatar: The Way of Water - $2.133B
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens - $2.068B
The Way of Water won't have much opportunity to climb far higher on the all-time domestic box office, certainly nowhere near the top five. But the Disney release could possibly surpass Jurassic World and James Cameron's own Titanic to land at the number seven spot.
The current highest-grossing movies of all time domestically can be seen below:
- Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens - $936,662,225
- Avengers: Endgame - $858,373,000
- Spider-Man: No Way Home - $814,115,070
- Avatar - $785,221,649
- Top Gun: Maverick - $718,732,821
- Black Panther - $700,059,566
- Avengers: Infinity War - $678,815,482
- Titanic - $659,363,944
- Jurassic World - $652,306,625
- Avatar: The Way of Water - $628,020,442
That being said, the steam is clearly running out on Avatar 2's impressive run, as has been signaled by its drop from the first-place spot. This decline will only accelerate further as the home and Disney+ releases approach and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters to bring its first blockbuster competition.
But in the meantime, The Way of Water will likely keep on winning internationally - where around 70% of its box office total has originated up until this point. Avatar 2 was always expected to be a hit, but few expected it could live up to the original quite to this extent to truly become a global phenomenon.
Avatar: The Way of Water is playing now in theaters worldwide.
