Avatar: The Way of Water is now the third-biggest grossing movie of all time. A little over two months after its theatrical debut, James Cameron’s much-delayed sequel has now overtaken his own 1997 disaster romance film Titanic. At the time of writing, Avatar 2 has generated $2.243 billion (about Rs. 18,550 crore) at the worldwide box office — compared to the $2.242 billion (about Rs. 18,540 crore) made by Titanic, which recently got a 4K HDR re-release. Out of that amount, roughly $1.58 billion (about Rs. 13,065 crore) was pulled in from markets outside the US and Canada, which significantly helped bolster its way into the top five. The film has earned $658.4 million (about Rs. 5,440 crore) from within the North American regions, as of Sunday.
As per Deadline, China retains the top spot as Avatar: The Way of Water’s earning’s contributor with an estimated $243.8 million (about Rs. 2,017 crore) in ticket sales. In Europe, the film has grossed $759 million (about Rs. 6,277 crore) to date, whereas the Asia-Pacific region has generated $646 million (about Rs. 5,343 crore) — 75 percent of it from 3D or premium format screenings. Lastly, Avatar 2 has raked in $181 million (about Rs. 1,497 crore), from the Latin America region. Titanic, re-released on February 10 on the occasion of its 25-year anniversary, merely managed to delay the inevitable, as Avatar: The Way of Water continued its steady climb to the top of the charts. With its theatrical run ending in the coming weeks, we could expect to see some back-and-forth between the two Cameron films for the third position.
Avatar: The Way of Water had a pretty clear runway since its release in December — only to be broken by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, released last week, serving as the only major Hollywood competition. The Marvel Cinematic Universe film has collected $357.3 million (about Rs. 2,956 crore). Cameron is now the only filmmaker to have directed three of the top-four highest grossing movies of all time — the original 2009 Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic. The second place is held by Avengers: Endgame with $2.79 billion (about Rs. 23,081 crore) in worldwide ticket sales.
Cameron’s sci-fi sequel also secured four nominations at the 2023 Oscars, including one for the Best Picture category. Early Monday, the movie also earned a BAFTA Film Award for Best Special Visual Effects. The filmmaker previously alluded to minor plot details for Avatar 3, suggesting that it will introduce the “Ash People”, representative of the fire culture. “I want to show the Na’vi from another angle because, so far, I have only shown their good sides,” he said in an interview last month. “In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vi examples. In Avatar 3, we will do the opposite. We will also explore new worlds, while continuing the story of the main characters.”
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theatres worldwide. In India, Avatar 2 is available in English, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.