Titanic's re-release for its 25th anniversary might have delayed the feat by a week, but now, it's official. Avatar: The Way of Water is the third highest-grossing movie in history.
James Cameron, who's helmed three of the five highest-grossing films at the all-time global box office, is sweating his way to the bank right now as he begrudgingly forces himself to work on the rest of his promised Avatar sequels following the success of Avatar 2.
The official numbers put Avatar: The Way of Water ($2,213,093,090) over Titanic's total ($2,216,990,964) barring a 30th-anniversary re-release. Titanic has set sail for a second maiden voyage in the past with a 3D remaster in 2012 that earned it $350.4 million worldwide. The iconic film's latest theatrical outing wasn't quite as profitable but it was more than enough to slow down the momentum of Avatar 2.
Now, Avatar 2 has its eyes set on climbing up the domestic box office charts, but we don't think it will climb any higher than Titanic.
As for taking down the only other movies that's made more money than Avatar 2, this is impossible. Avengers: Endgame and the first Avatar film have made nearly $2.8 billion and a little over $2.9 billion, respectively. To put that into context, the difference between Avatar: The Way of Water and Avengers: Endgame is close to $600 million, which is even higher than how much the film made in its opening weekend.
Barring a historic post-launch surge surpassing its historical initial three-day take, Avatar 2 likely won't be making more than $2.3 billion when it's all said and done.
After being dethroned for the first time by Knock at the Cabin, Avatar 2 met and lost to another blockbuster title in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania following its series-high haul. The next few weeks aren't going to be kinder to Avatar 2 with big-budget movies like Creed III (March 3), Shazam! Fury of the Gods (March 17), John Wick: Chapter 4 (March 24), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (March 31), and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (March 31) all premiering next month.
At this point, Disney is better off looking at releasing Avatar: The Way of Water on Disney+ sooner rather than later. The worst-case scenario is that it will have minimal effect on the sliding subscriber count of the popular streaming platform.
