Well that didn’t take long.
Avatar: The Way of Water, the long-awaited sequel to 2009’s megahit Avatar, has crossed the $1 Billion mark at the global box office in just 14 days. Recent debuts such as Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, Babylon, and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody haven’t made a dent in the James Cameron juggernaut.
The Way of Water is the fastest to reach that milestone in 2022, and only the third film overall to do so. Top Gun: Maverick is the year’s biggest earner at $1.48B followed by Jurassic World Dominion with $1.001B.
The Way of Water will pass Dominion within the day and, at this torrid pace, it should easily fly by Maverick before its theatrical run is through (although it likely won’t broach the domestic gross of the Top Gun sequel, which is sixth all-time at $718.7M).
For further context, The Way of Water has already passed the worldwide totals of other 2022 blockbusters like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($955.7 million), Minions: The Rise of Gru ($939M), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($800M), The Batman ($770M), and Thor: Love and Thunder ($760M).
The bulk of that business has come overseas. Despite Avatar 2 taking in a solid $293.3M so far in North America, its $662M of international receipts is what’s really propelling its ascent up the box office charts.
Whether The Way of Water has the staying power to cross into the rarified air of $2 billion remains to be seen, especially since the last movie to do so was pre-pandemic (2019’s Avengers: Endgame, with $2.797B).
If The Way of Water does somehow manage $2 billion or more, it’ll only be the sixth film in history to do so, with its predecessor still reigning as the #1 movie of all time worldwide at $2.9 billion.