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The nominees for the 80th Golden Globes have been announced and it appears that both Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick are competing for Best Picture - Drama.

This year's heavy-hitters join the likes of Warner Bros.' Elvis, Universal Pictures' recently released The Fabelmans and Focus Features' Tár for the category. The Way of Water has also been nominated in the Best Director - Motion Picture category, while Top Gun: Maverick has also been nominated for Best Original Song - Motion Picture for Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice's song, "Hold My Hand."

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Avatar: The Way of Water Versus Top Gun

Top Gun: Maverick made headlines this year for its impressive performance at the box office, earning $1.4 billion worldwide-- the second film to do so following the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the course of its theatrical release, the film also flew by numerous box office milestones. Not only was it star Tom Cruise's biggest opening and highest-grossing film ever, Top Gun: Maverick also opened domestically to the largest Memorial Day Weekend of all time and is Paramount's highest-grossing domestic release ever. On top of that, it is the first movie to be number one at the box office for both Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend.

While Avatar: The Way of Water has not yet been released in theaters, it has screened for select audiences, with critics praising it as a visual masterpiece and a praiseworthy, character-driven story, generally agreeing that it deserves the hype currently surrounding it. Filmmaker James Cameron himself recently expressed confidence that the film will please general audiences, stating, "If I like my movie, I know other people are gonna like my movie. It’s very simplistic, really."

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Top Gun and Avatar Sequels

Between Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water, Disney's alien epic is the only one with sequels in production, as Avatar 3 was filmed simultaneously with The Way of Water. While there are a further two films planned out, Cameron has expressed he is ready to scrap those plans if the third instalment does not succeed in theaters, acknowledging that the theater market is vastly different now from when the original 2009 film premiered.

Maverick may not have a third instalment in active development, but recent reports suggest a third film is being discussed. Shortly after the Top Gun sequel premiered, star Miles Teller suggested it was ultimately up to Tom Cruise, stating, "I've been having some conversations with him about it. We'll see."

Top Gun: Maverick is available for streaming on Paramount+. Avatar: The Way of Water is scheduled to premiere on Dec. 16.

Source: Golden Globes