During the initial press for Avatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron said it would need to be the “the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history” in order to truly be considered successful. Welp, four weeks into Avatar: TWOW’s initial theatrical release, and it’s already well on its way there. The weekend domestic box office for the first full week of January saw Avatar 2 stay on top with $45 million, followed by spirited new doll-on-the-scene M3GAN bringing in $30.2 million. Combined with the past three weeks’ domestic and international box office, Avatar: TWOW has now achieved the seventh-highest lifetime gross of all time, according to Box Office Mojo. It passed Jurassic World and 2019’s The Lion King, and now faces a glut of movies with subtitles (Spider-Man: No Way Home at number six, Avengers: Infinity War at five, and Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens at four) before approaching Cameron’s own Titanic at number three. Only time will tell if this wet fantasia of a film can sivako, or rise to the challenge, and meet Cameron’s definition of success. But The Way of Water has already surpassed 2022’s other big box-office smash, Top Gun: Maverick, which sits at No. 12.
