'Avatar: The Way of Water' Picks Up Another Box Office Win This Weekend, Nearing $2 Billion

It was yet another impressive win for the James Cameron sci-fi sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water," over the holiday weekend. The film only dropped off only 29.5% in its fifth weekend at the domestic box office, bringing in another $32.4 million to its overall domestic total, per Box Office Mojo.

The film is now up to a total of $1.903 billion worldwide, making its $2 billion global milestone an absolute certainty in a likely matter of days.

As previously reported by The Blast, "Avatar: The Way of Water" reached No. 7 on the all-time box office chart last weekend. Very soon it will surpass "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which is currently at No. 6 at $1.916 billion.

After that, it appears the film will easily reach $2 billion globally at this point. The question is if the film has enough gas left in the tank to surpass Cameron's own juggernaut film, "Titanic," which sits at No. 3 on the all-time chart at $2.194 billion worldwide. Considering that "The Way of Water" has little in the way of massive competition at the theaters right now until the release of Marvel's "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" on February 17, it appears very possible it can reach that high.

This would give Cameron three of the top five-grossing films of all time. That certainly bodes well for his plans for the "Avatar" sequel, with multiple sequels in the works.

Elsewhere over the holiday weekend, the breakout hit "M3GAN" had another strong showing in it second weekend, after bringing in an impressive $30.2 million for its opening frame. "M3GAN" had a solid weekend No. 2, dropping only 40% to add another $18.2 million to its domestic total. The film has now reached $56.7 million domestically off of a modest $12 million budget, meaning it will be highly profitable for Universal Pictures.

"Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" also continues to do impressive business in its later weekends after having a fairly low opening during Christmas Day weekend. The film actually had an increase this weekend of 6.3%, and grossed $14.3 million. That brings its domestic total to $107 million and $253 million worldwide.

The original "Puss in Boots" released in 2011 only made $149 million domestically and had a much higher opening weekend. "The Last Wish" at this point will now easily surpass the domestic take of the original. With a 96% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 93% percent audience rating, this is a film that really overcame its odds after having such a low opener. "The Last Wish" has transformed into the epitome of a word-of-mouth hit.

Back to "Avatar," considering that James Cameron previously told GQ Magazine that his sequel was so expensive that "you have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even," it looks like it won't be long until it reaches that point.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" is now playing in theaters. The next installment in the franchise is slated for a December 20, 2024 release. "Avatar 4" is scheduled to drop on December 18, 2026. "Avatar 5" is expected to arrive on December 22, 2028.