Avatar: The Way of Waterbecame the fifth highest-grossing film of all time at the box office worldwide. James Cameron’s science fiction epic achieved this feat by passingAvengers: Infinity War.
Released over a decade after its predecessor, audiences wondered ifAvatar 2would receive enough attention to earn enough at the box office to justify its massive budget and long wait. Cameron saidAvatar 2would break evenif it became the fourth or fifth highest-grossing film, and now it has achieved this goal.
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PerVariety,Avatar: The Way of WatertookAvengers: Infinity War’s spot after grossing $2.054 billion at the worldwide box office.Avengers: Infinity Warearned $2.052 billion worldwide since it was released in theaters in 2018. Now,Avatar: The Way of Wateris only behindStar Wars: The Force Awakens,Titanic,Avengers: Endgame, andthe firstAvatarmovie. Variety speculatesAvatar: The Way of Waterhas a solid chance of surpassingStar Wars: The Force Awakensbefore moviegoers start flocking toAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniaon February 17.
Internationally,Avatar: The Way of Wateris the fourth-biggest movie due to its $1.5 billion haul. At the domestic box office,The Way of Waterranks as the thirteenth highest-grossing film with a $603 million total, butAvatar 2is only the sixth film to earn $2 billionworldwide. Cameron’s film is also the highest-grossing film of the COVID-19 pandemic era, besting the likes ofSpider-Man: No Way Homeand Tom Cruise’sTop Gun: Maverick.
Cameron previously confirmedAvatar 2earned enough money for sequelsto move forward, so fans likely weren’t worried about the franchise’s future. Still, asAvatar 2climbs the box office chart, studio executives are undoubtedly celebrating the film becoming more than profitable.
The franchise still has critics, and some believeCameron’sAvatarsequels need better stories. However, the box office results indicate that theAvatarfilms are resonating with moviegoers on some level, and its recent Best Picture nomination at the 2023 Academy Awards underscores this point. Fans say it is foolish to bet against Cameron, and it’s hard to deny this because three of his films are among the top 5 highest-grossing movies of all time.
