Avatar: The Way of Water is now No. 7 on the all-time box office Top 10. The belated sequel comes 13 years after the release of 2009's Avatar, the film that is still the highest-grossing of all time with a worldwide gross of $2.922 billion. Returning director James Cameron (whose 1997 film Titanic is also on the Top 10 at No. 3, making him the director with the most entries on the list) previously stated that the big budget film needed to make around $2 billion just to meet the break-even point, but the film has already been confirmed to be profitable, meaning that several more sequels will follow.
Per Deadline, the record-breaking Avatar: The Way of Water box office run is continuing to make waves worldwide. By the end of this weekend, which is its fourth at the box office since its release on December 16, 2022, the film is projected to have made $1.708 billion. This means that it has rocketed past 2019's The Lion King (which earned $1.663 billion) and 2015's Jurassic World (which earned $1.671 billion) to become the No. 7 highest-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office.
Is Avatar: The Way of Water Going to Become the Highest-Grossing Film of All Time?
Although the future is looking rosy for Avatar: The Way of Water, it's still got quite a way to go if it wants to continue rising on the all-time chart. The next four benchmarks are 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.916 billion), 2018's Avengers: Infinity War ($2.048 billion), 2015's Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens ($2.069 billion), and Titanic. It will likely be quite easy for the Avatar sequel to surpass those titles given its momentum, landing it at No. 3.
However, there is a substantial gap between those films and the overall Top 2, which are 2019's Avengers: Endgame ($2.797 billion) and, of course, the original Avatar. To claim the No. 1 slot of all time, the film will have to make another $1 billion and then some. Considering the fact that the film is one of the few pandemic era releases to play in China, this could help give it a huge boost, but the pre-pandemic titles Endgame and Avatar also opened in China without the complication of potential theater closures, giving them an advantage.
Avatar: The Way of Water has also recently been knocked down a peg. While it will still be taking the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office this weekend, the upstart Blumhouse horror flick M3GAN claimed No.1 on its Friday opening day, pushing the Avatar sequel to No. 2 for the first single day since its release. Other upcoming films including House Party, Knock at the Cabin, and Magic Mike's Last Dance all have the chance to pull off a similar feat, slowly nibbling away at the film's box office domination over the next month before the February 17 release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania gives it a huge run for its money.
Source: Deadline
