Avatar: The Way of Water, the three-hour and ten-minute film by James Cameron, has hit $1.17 billion globally, according to a report from Variety Friday.
The Way of Water is now the third movie to pass the $1 billion mark during the pandemic, with Spider-Man: No Way Home at $1.9 billion and Top Gun: Maverick at $1.5 billion. It’s also the highest grossing international release of 2022. With Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, the Avatar franchise is now a part of the house of mouse.
The Way of Water is a sequel to 2009’s Avatar, a Dances with Wolves-style story that dazzled audiences with breathtaking 3D visuals, and became the highest grossing movie of all time. The success of The Way of Water at the box office comes as multiple movies bombed throughout the pandemic, including Morbius, Black Adam and The Northman. With increased competition in the streaming space and the technological improvements of home theaters, viewing habits are changing.
James Cameron has said The Way of Water needs to be the fourth of fifth highest-grossing film to break-even. That figure might be somewhat high as the break-even point is closer to $1.4 billion, sources close to production that told Variety.
