Avatar: The Way of Water Is Now the Third Biggest Movie of All Time, Collecting Over $2.243 Billion

James Cameron has dethroned his own 1997 disaster romance film Titanic for third place.

Written by Rahul Chettiyar, Edited by Richa Sharma | Updated: 20 February 2023 16:16 IST

Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios

Avatar: The Way of Water is preceded by Avengers: Endgame in second place

Highlights

Titanic has made $2.242 billion (about Rs. 18,540 crore) in ticket sales
Avatar 2 pulled $1.58 billion (about Rs. 13,065 crore) from outside US
China continues to be the biggest market for Avatar 2

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.

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Avatar: The Way of Water

Release Date 16 December 2022
Language English
Genre Sci-Fi
Cast
Zoe Saldaña, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Kate Winslet, Jamie Flatters, Britain Dalton, Trinity Bliss, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Duane Evans Jr., Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Jack Champion, Brendan Cowell, Michelle Yeoh, Oona Chaplin, CJ Jones, Vin Diesel
Director
James Cameron
Producer
James Cameron, Jon Landau

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