“Avatar: The Way of Water” Rises to 4th Highest-Grossing Film Ever
James Cameron is in some very impressive company. With Avatar: The Way of Water claiming the number-one spot for the seventh consecutive weekend, Cameron’s sequel officially passed Star Wars: The Force Awakens on Friday as the fourth highest-grossing film of all time. Currently, The Way of Water is sitting at $2.117 billion globally, which bests The Force Awakens’ $2.071 billion haul.
So that company Cameron keeps? It’s with himself and the Russo Brothers, with The Way of Water ranking behind only his own Titanic ($2.19 billion), the Russo Brothers’ Avengers: Endgame ($2.7 billion), and his own Avatar ($2.92 billion).
The success of The Way of Water might feel inevitable now, but in the long run-up to the sequel, which arrived 13 years after the original Avatar bowed in 2009, it felt anything but certain. There were questions swirling around the collective desire for audiences to see a sequel to a film that many media outlets claimed had left little cultural impact. Then there was the concern over the change in the movie landscape since the first film, with superheroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Films reigning supreme. Would people still get enthused over tall, blue-skinned aliens protecting their planet from capricious humans? Now, all those concerns have been replaced by a simple refrain; never bet against James Cameron.
It also must be noted that The Way of Water‘s success is not just James Cameron’s success, of course. Hundreds of people worked for years to make this happen, from the cast to the dedicated crew. New technologies were deployed to bring Cameron’s vision to life, while his department heads, including costume designer Deborah L. Scott and production designers Dylan Cole and Ben Procter, did stupendous work bringing this epic saga to life.
Now, we wait for Avatar 3, which no longer feels like a long shot but rather an inevitability.
For more on all things Avatar, check out these stories:
James Cameron is Feeling Very Good About his “Avatar” Sequels
“Avatar: The Way of Water” Swims Past “Jurassic World” as Seventh-Highest Grossing Film Ever
Why Every Digital Costume in “Avatar: The Way of Water” Really Exists
How “Avatar: The Way of Water” Visual Effects Wizards Conjured Underwater Magic
Featured image: (L-R): Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) in 20th Century Studios’ AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2022 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
