'Avatar: The Way Of Water' Becomes Sixth Movie To Reach $2 Billion Worldwide

It was only a matter of time, and now it's official. Deadline reports that the sci-fi James Cameron sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water" has crossed $2 billion at the worldwide box office this weekend.

The film has now grossed approximately $598 million domestically and $1.426 billion for its overseas receipts for a combined gross of $2.024 billion worldwide.

This puts the sequel in very rarefied air on the all-time box office list. It is only the sixth movie to reach $2 billion at the worldwide box office, behind only the first "Avatar" ($2.923 billion), "Avengers Endgame" ($2.799 billion), James Cameron's "Titanic" ($2.194 billion), "Star Wars: Episode VII" ($2.071 billion), and "Avengers: Infinity War" ($2.052 billion).

The current box office take of "The Way of Water" puts it at No. 6 on the all-time global box office chart. It its current rate, the film will most assuredly surpass the worldwide box office takes of "Star Wars: Episode VII" and "Avengers: Infinity War."

At this rate, it also looks like it will pass up Cameron's 1997 "Titanic" film to become the third-highest-grossing movie of all time. This would give Cameron three of the top five highest-grossing movies ever.

Domestically, "Avatar: The Way of Water" is currently at No. 13 on the all-time list with $598 million. However, it should be breaking into the Top 10 in a matter of days.  Considering its current weekend estimates had the film only dropping only 39.1% in its sixth weekend to make another $20 million, via Box Office Mojo, "The Way of Water" continues to bring in money domestically and abroad. So, it's still got quite a bit of gas left in the tank. More than likely, the blockbuster will continue to dominate theaters until the release of "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania," which is poised to be another huge moneymaking release for Disney.

By next weekend, "Avatar: The Way of Water" should surpass Marvel Studios "The Avengers" at $623 million to break into the all-time domestic Top 10 list. Cameron's "Titanic" currently sits at No. 8 on the all-time domestic list with $659 million, which looks like a doable feat for "The Way of Water" at this point.

So Cameron is largely competing with himself. And 20th Century Studios' "Avatar: The Way of Water," owned by The Walt Disney Company, is largely competing with other James Cameron films, Marvel films, or "Star Wars" films that it also owns. So, it looks like Bob Iger will have plenty to boast about in meetings come Monday morning with "The Way of Water" reaching over $2 billion worldwide.

The question is if "The Way of Water" can reach $700 million domestically at this point. It seems like a long shot, but the film's legs at the box office have been remarkable, even for a film this huge. It's continually defied expectations, especially when critics were ready to claim it under-performed following its opening weekend.

Also, now that "The Way of Water" has become so successful, it should be a much easier selling point for Cameron to continue working on the multiple sequels that are in the works. "Avatar 3" is currently slated for a December 2024 release.

Elsewhere, "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" had another strong showing as it has continued to do in subsequent weekends following its opening. The film dropped only 20.5% in its fifth weekend to bring in another $11.5 million to its domestic total, which is now $126.4 million.

At this rate, "The Last Wish" should easily surpass the domestic take of the first "Puss in Boots" movie from 2011, which made $149.2 million. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" is a film that epitomizes becoming a word-of-mouth success story. The film has now made over $297 million worldwide and climbing.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" are out now in theaters.