‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Swims Past ‘Titanic’ at Domestic Box Office with $674.6 Million

After more than two months in theaters, director James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has overtaken the filmmaker’s own 1997 blockbuster Titanic at the domestic box office. This comes after The Way of Water sank Titanic at both the global box office and at the overseas box office. The epic disaster-romance film had briefly extended its lead over The Way of Water with a recent re-release in celebration of its 25th anniversary. But the re-release merely delayed the inevitable.

The Way of Water is now the eighth-biggest film of all time at the domestic box office, with $674.6 million, ahead of Titanic, which has a cumulative domestic gross of $674.3 million, factoring in all its re-releases over the years. Globally, The Way of Water remains the third-biggest film of all time, with $2.29 billion, ahead of Titanic, which sits at $2.22 billion. The Way of Water has grossed $1.6 billion from overseas markets, while Titanic has grossed $1.5 billion overseas.

With this latest achievement, The Way of Water has now overtaken Titanic on all three fronts. Although it should be pointed out that, as per the norm, Titanic’s figures are unadjusted for inflation, meaning that its grosses would be significantly higher in 2023 dollars. What this also means is that Cameron is the undisputed king of blockbusters. The legendary filmmaker has directed three of the top four biggest films in history. The first Avatar remains the highest-grossing movie of all time, with $2.9 billion globally, although it sits at the number four spot domestically, with $785 million.

RELATED: Why James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ Movies Connect With Audiences

Other movies on the top 10 domestic list include Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million), Avengers: Endgame ($858 million), Spider-Man: No Way Home (814 million), Top Gun: Maverick ($718 million), Black Panther ($700 million), Avengers: Infinity War ($678 million) and Jurassic World ($652 million).

Cameron had famously declared prior to The Way of Water’s release that it would need to finish as the third or fourth-biggest film in history to break even, although Variety later reported that the break even point was actually in the $1.4 billion range. Either way, The Way of Water lived up to those astronomical expectations, putting an end to any debate about the franchise’s cultural relevance. Cameron has already shot motion-capture for the third film, which is expected to be released in 2024. Two more sequels are planned, with the option of more installments, depending on how the sequels perform.

The Way of Water is set a decade after the events shown in the first film. It follows the protagonist Jake Sully and his family into new underwater regions of Pandora. Select sequences in the film were rendered in High Frame Rate 3D by Cameron, further pushing the boundaries of visual effects. In addition to its commercial success, the film has scored four nominations at the 95th Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

You can watch our interview with Cameron here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.