James Cameron’s highly-anticipated Avatar 2 has officially surpassed $1 billion at the global box office — and seems to be well on its way to snatching Top Gun 2‘s crown as the highest-grossing international release of 2022.
The follow-up to 2009’s Avatar, entitled ‘The Way of Water,’ catches up with Jake and Neytiri over a decade after the events of the first science fiction movie. The sequel introduces Jake Sully and Neytiri’s children and expands the lore surrounding the Na’vi and Pandora as the couple continues to contend with the threat of human colonization wrecking their way of life. As of December 29 2022, the full global gross of The Way of the Water is $1,100.6 million (via Deadline). This means it has officially surpassed $1.1 billion in the global box office in just fifteen days.
According to the outlet, Avatar 2’s international box office accounts for $762.8 million, and if projections are correct, the film will surpass Top Gun: Maverick to become the top grossing international release of 2022. The Tom Cruise movie achieved this feat with a $770 million gross, which, of course, Avatar 2 is not far off.
In a previous interview with GQ, Cameron hinted that Avatar 2 was “really fucking expensive,” and needs to make an eye-boggling amount at the box office just to breakeven and cover the animated movie‘s budget.
According to Cameron, in order for The Way of the Water to be profitable, “you have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.”
At the time of writing, the third and fourth highest-grossing movies of all time are around the $2 billion mark. So, the good news for Cameron is that when it comes to Avatar 2 being profitable, we’re halfway there!