James Cameron Ruled The Super Bowl Weekend Box Office With Both Avatar The Way Of Water And Titanic
James Cameron is an unquestioned master filmmaker, one of many living among us today, alongside the likes of Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and quite a few others. But there is only one king of the box office and that honor belongs to Cameron alone. Case in point, this past weekend saw the filmmaker dominate the charts with "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Titanic" coming in at number two and three, respectively, at the domestic box office. Mind you, this is the ninth weekend for "Way of Water" and 25 years after the initial release of "Titanic." That is impressive stuff.
The sequel to 2009's "Avatar" took in $6.8 million, while "Titanic" earned $6.4 million. Both movies added to their respective, ever-growing totals, putting them further out of reach for any other movie hoping to fight for a spot on the all-time, highest-grossing charts. Currently, that list is topped by "Avatar" ($2.92 billion) and, following this most recent weekend, we've got "Way of Water" ($2.213 billion) and "Titanic" ($2.216 billion) in a tight battle for the number three and four spots. Regardless, three of the top four spots are occupied by movies that Cameron directed, with only "Avengers: Endgame" ($2.8 billion) in the number two spot standing between him and total dominance.
"Magic Mike's Last Dance" may have topped the domestic charts over the weekend, but the global picture tells a different story. "Titanic" took in $22.3 million in its re-release, while "Way of Water" added $25.8 million to its ever-growing, record-breaking total. So sure, Channing Tatum got to go out on top in North America, but Cameron is still ruling the world with two movies that were released 25 years apart.
James Cameron, king of the world
The most impressive element of this is the fact that Cameron has asserted himself as a filmmaker who has managed to captivate moviegoers across multiple decades at this point. With "Titanic," he secured the highest-grossing movie ever up to that point in history — a movie that many in Hollywood doubted. Then, well over a decade later, he once again crafted the biggest movie ever with "Avatar" which was, by an insanely high margin, the highest-grossing movie ever. And, even though it briefly lost the crown to "Endgame," it actually managed to take back the title months later.
Cut to "Avatar: The Way of Water," which was released a full 13 years after the original "Avatar" and entered theaters with a sky-high budget, said to be between $350 and $450 million. It's almost certainly the most expensive movie ever made. People had their doubts – could it cross that $2 billion threshold? Did people even care about an "Avatar" sequel anymore? Again, Cameron silenced his doubters and made a hit the likes of which many of us might have thought was never going to happen again in the aftermath of the pandemic.
So, as we await the release of "Avatar 3" (and "Avatar 4," and maybe "Avatar 5") it is worth remembering that one should never, ever doubt James Cameron. He is the king, and he has remained the king every time he has stepped up to bat over the last 25 years.