“Avatar: The Way of Water” has soared past “Top Gun: Maverick” at the global box office to become the top-grossing film released in 2022.
The highly-anticipated “Avatar” sequel from director James Cameron, through Thursday, earned $1.547 billion at the box office internationally, Deadline reported.
The “Avatar” sequel has become the ninth highest-grossing film of all time at the global box office, overtaking “The Avengers,” which brought in $1.521 billion in 2012, the outlet noted.
As of Wednesday, the fantasy film had beaten out the “Top Gun” sequel, earning $454 million domestically and crossing the $1 billion mark globally, The Hollywood Reporter noted.
Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick” was released in May, and previously held the honor of top-grossing movie released in 2022, earning $1.49 billion globally.
"I’m gonna have to do these other ['Avatar'] sequels. I know what I’m going to be doing the next six or seven years….We’ve begun a saga that can now play out over multiple films.”https://t.co/Y8IHx4olJk
— Variety (@Variety) January 6, 2023
Ahead of the release of “Avatar: The Way Of Water,” Cameron said the movie would have to earn $2 billion to “break even,” as previously reported. However, despite Cameron’s assertion, Variety reports that “analysts believe the threshold to profitability is probably closer to $1.5 billion.”
Cameron shared during his Friday appearance on HBO Max’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” that his film will easily pass that point in the next few days, Yahoo.com noted.
“It looks like with the momentum that the film has now that we’ll easily pass our break even in the next few days, so it looks like I can’t wiggle out of this and I’m gonna have to do these other sequels,” Cameron said. “I know what I’m going to be doing the next six or seven years.”
“The point is we’re going to be okay,” he added. “I’m sure that we’ll have a discussion soon with with the top folks at Disney about the game plan going forward for ‘Avatar 3,’ which is already in the can — we’ve already captured and photographed the whole film, so we’re in extended post-production to do all that CG magic.”
“And then ‘Avatar 4’ and ‘5’ are both written,” Cameron continued. “We even have some of ‘4’ in the can. We’ve begun a franchise at this point. We’ve begun a saga that can now play out over multiple films.”
The first “Avatar” film brought in $2.97 billion and holds the record as the highest-grossing release in cinema history, Variety noted.
Related: ‘Avatar’ Director James Cameron: Having A ‘Pregnant’ Warrior Is ‘Last Bastion’ Of Empowering Women
