Avatar: The Way of Water may only have been number one at the box office for about two months since its release on December 16, but it has already beat out the original James Cameron global juggernaut Titanic to become the third highest-grossing movie of all time right behind the first Avatar and Avengers: Endgame. Now, 20th Century Studios is thanking its fans worldwide for helping to make the sequel 13 years in the making such a big success with a “Thank You” reel that showcases how big a phenomenon it has become.
Avatar: The Way of Water ($2,243.2 million global to date) passed Titanic ($2,242.8 million global to date) to become the third highest-grossing film of all-time globally. The sequel also passed Jurassic World to become the ninth highest-grossing film of all-time domestically. Globally after its tenth weekend, Avatar: The Way of Water has grossed an estimated $2,243.2 million ($657 million Domestic and $1,586 million International). James Cameron has three of the top four highest grossing global movies of all time – Avatar (#1), Avatar: The Way of Water (#3) and Titanic (#4).
Interestingly, the sequel was seen as risky. Cameron had to fight to keep his vision intact from the studio when they wanted to cut the movie’s runtime down. Also, the sci-fi auteur had to build confidence with the new studio investors as he assured the Disney suits — who would be releasing the film under their 20th Century Studios banner — that they would not see the gigantic returns on opening weekend, but on the subsequent weeks. In addition, with a 13 year gap and no follow-up to the franchise in any form, many wondered if the series, which only had one film at the time, was even culturally relevant any more. The first film seemed to have wrapped up the story somewhat conclusively, and many had thought that a sequel wasn’t totally necessary. It also didn’t look to work in the movie’s favor that the 3D fad that had spawned from the first film had seemingly died down.
Despite the doubts, the movie climbed to a billion dollars in record time and had broken even. Cameron had already gotten part three in the can prior to the release of The Way of Water, so whether not the film had hit or flopped, the series would at least continue for one more movie. Now, there doesn’t seem to be anything stopping the franchise. Cameron has already announced casting for the third and spoken about the continuing story about the Sully family adventures on Pandora.