Avatar: The Way of Water Is Now the Highest-Grossing Movie of 2022

In Avatar: The Way of Water, folks from Earth seek out the Na’vi of Pandora as half of a bigger plan to take over their planet. But right here on precise Earth, the Na’vi have formally gained the battle.

As of Wednesday, James Cameron’s sequel has grossed $1.51 billion globally, which bests the $1.49 billion Top Gun: Maverick grossed earlier this yr. That means Avatar: The Way of Water is now the highest-grossing movie of 2022 globally. Domestically, it’s a unique story; Maverick nonetheless comfortably sits on the high of the mountain, over $260 million forward. (Maverick stands at $718 million home, Way of Water was at $454 million as of Wednesday). To put that in perspective, that’s one full The Amazing Spider-Man.

But Avatar has by no means been only a home franchise. The unique movie, which grossed a nonetheless massively spectacular $785 million domestically (good for fourth all-time), grossed over thrice that internationally for a world cume of virtually $3 billion. So that it’s outgrossed Maverick, a movie with its roots very a lot in Americana, internationally isn’t actually a shock. What is a shock is that it did so shortly. The Way of Water has been in theaters for almost three weeks in complete. It’s nonetheless received weeks, in all probability months, of enjoying in theaters and getting these numbers up. We’re a real field workplace juggernaut.

So, the place can it go from right here? Passing Top Gun: Maverick on the world field workplace places it at #10 all-time. Number 9 all-time, The Avengers, is simply {dollars} forward, so it ought to beat that in mere hours if it hasn’t already. So, we’re The Way of Water being the ninth highest-grossing movie of all time. Eighth place, the 2019 Lion King, is subsequent on the record at $1.66 billion, and quantity seven, Jurassic World, is true on high of that at $1.67 billion. The subsequent big milestone, then, is quantity six which is Spider-Man: No Way Home. That’s at $1.91 billion, and if The Way of Water hits that, $2 billion shouldn’t be that far behind. Only 5 movies have ever grossed over $2 billion: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic, and Avatar. And, of these 5, two are directed by James Cameron.

And, sure, as a result of somebody all the time mentions it, none of that is adjusted for inflation.

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