“Avatar: The Way of Water” has been in theaters for nearly a month and it is breaking records. Major doubts arose in audiences when the film by James Cameron needed $2 billion dollars just to break even. With the first Avatar film released in 2009, results were record breaking. Earning more than half a billion dollars within the first week, its first three weeks in the box office hauled in a total of 1.51 billion dollars worldwide from the release date of December 16th last year.
Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” surpassed a trio of Marvel films, “Minions”, and also “Jurassic World”. James Cameron’s sequel has topped all of these films, including “Top Gun: Maverick.” Though this film is breaking records, it’s not James Cameron’s first success. James Cameron has not only created this sequel, he also directed “The Titanic” and the original “Avatar,” which grossed a total of 5.12 billion dollars. James Cameron has now directed three of the ten biggest blockbusters ever.
Unlike “Top Gun,” most of the ticket sales for Avatar came from overseas, totalling at 1.05 billion dollars. American audiences contributed a smaller amount of money, totalling at 464 million dollars as of January 6th. So far, “Avatar 2” has grossed a total of 1.893 billion dollars and is close to surpassing its competition: Marvel’s “Spiderman: No Way Home.”
“[James Cameron] built a career on movies that have a slow burn at the box office, and it really is on display again with the sequel,” said a chief analyst at BoxOffice.com in an interview conducted by CNBC. This statement has defined James Cameron’s ability to direct movies and “Avatar 2: The Way of Water” is a perfect example of his success.