With Avatar: The Way of Water continuing to take in money at the box office, the film is now close to overtaking the smash hit Spider-Man: No Way Home in terms of lifetime gross.
The long-awaited Avatar sequel is now poised to overtake one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's biggest hits, as reported via Variety. At press time, the Avatar sequel has earned $1.901 billion in takings and with the film still in theaters, it should generate even more. Just above it at #6 in the ranking of worldwide lifetime grosses is Spider-Man: No Way Home, which stands at $1.916 billion earned. Thus, positioned closely behind at #7, The Way of Water is on a steady course to earn more money than the widely beloved Sony/Marvel Studios co-produced MCU movie in the next few days.
The Way of Water Reception
The Way of Water received critical and audience acclaim since its release, which is no doubt contributing to its ongoing box office dominance. The film has already been nominated for two Golden Globes (Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director) and picked up a further 65 nominations along the way, with ten wins. The only place in which the film has failed to flourish is China, although the box office has slumped considerably in the country thanks to severe pandemic restrictions among other factors.
Even without all the positivity towards the film, director James Cameron has admitted he will have to make more follow-ups. With the sequel's earnings having passed a $1.5 billion break-even mark, a third entry in the series is definitely a go, and Cameron revealed that it is close to being done. "We've already captured and photographed the whole film, so we're in extended post-production to do all that CG magic," Cameron said. "And then 'Avatar 4' and '5' are both written. We even have some of '4' in the can. We've begun a franchise at this point. We've begun a saga that can now play out over multiple films."
Even though all five Avatar films will be treated as separate entities, Cameron revealed how the overall narrative will flow through his upcoming releases as though it was a TV series. Rather than each being its own story, the overarching narrative will stay the same. "It's one big story," the director said. "It’s really one big story, but it’s like episodic television. Each one has its own proximal resolution. The character problems continue across the cut."
Avatar: The Way of Water is playing at theaters now.
Source: Via Variety