Jams Cameron has done it again as the filmmaker’s latest feature Avatar: The Way of Water managed to trump one of the director’s most revered works, Titanic, to become the third highest-grossing movie of all time
While the Avatar sequel has been out since mid-December, slowly climbing the ranks of films earning the most revenue ever, Cameron’s sci-fi epic ran into a few obstacles, namely Titanic being rereleased this very month. The latter occurred to celebrate Titanic’s 25th anniversary in a new updated format, something that had temporarily pushed out The Way of Water out of the podium due to how well this romantic story did at the box office around Valentine’s Day.
Nevertheless, progress can only be contained for so long as Variety reports this past weekend Avatar: The Way of Water reached a global box office of $2.244 billion, narrowly surpassing Titanic’s $2.2428 billion (including new earnings) to irreversibly clinch the number three spot. That means only Avengers: Endgame and the first Avatar film now stand above The Way of Water, thus cementing Cameron as the undisputed box office king.
It bears saying that Avatar’s first place was recaptured thanks to rereleases in recent years, particularly with earnings from the Chinese market, since Endgame did beat its record in 2019. Considering Avatar 3 is planned for 2024, it really wouldn’t be past Cameron to somehow get The Way of Water rereleased ahead of the third entry as well.
Although The Way of Water did end up comfortably beating 2022’s other blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick, the former was much more successful on a global scale, whereas Tom Cruise’s sequel generally performed better in the United States. A crucial element behind both movies’ runs was studios allowing for a longer than average theatrical release, especially since Avatar 2 endured a rocky start in China due to a brief COVID crisis affecting before its Lunar New Year holidays.
It's unclear when Avatar 2 will make it to streaming as James Cameron has mixed feelings about that medium, but considering Disney Plus' ongoing transformation as far as Marvel and Star Wars are concerned bringing over a blockbuster like The Way of Water should only be a matter of time. For now, the best way to watch the Avatar sequel is still to go to a movie theater and contributing to the director keeping his records.
Avatar: The Way of Water is currently available in theaters.
Source: Variety