Avatar: The Way of Water officially crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box office today, and in doing so has put James Cameron back on top of a major movie record, and ties him with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s biggest directors, Joe and Anthony Russo. Prior to the Russo brothers making their mark on the MCU, Cameron was in a rare club, having directed multiple movies that brought in over $1 billion at the global box office with both Titanic and Avatar. He was quickly matched through the 2010s by some filmmakers but only the Russos beat him, directing three billion dollar movies. Now Cameron has returned, and joins them again.
Now that Avatar: The Way of Water is sitting at $1.028 billion, it means James Cameron also has three billion dollar movies (Titanic is currently at $2.2 billion while the original Avatar remains the highest grossing movie ever with $2.89 billion). Currently Anthony and Joe Russo sit alongside him with Captain America: Civil War ($1.15 billion), Avengers: Infinity War ($2.048 billion), and Avengers: Endgame ($2.79 billion). What’s worth noting is that should Avatar: The Way of Water cross the $2 billion mark, something that isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility, it would push Cameron ahead in a major way, making him the first filmmaker with three $2 billion movies.
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The Billion Dollar Movie used to be a pie in the sky idea, something that only the likes of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest managed to achieve in their initial theatrical runs. Now the billion dollar movie is an annual occurrence, 2022 alone already has three, meaning that there are a lot of directors with two of them to their name. These include:
- J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Force Awakens & Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
- Michael Bay, Transformers: Age of Extinction & Transformers: Dark of the Moon
- Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, Frozen & Frozen II
- Pierre Coffin & Kyle Balda, Minions & Despicable Me 3
- Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King & The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Colin Trevorrow, Jurassic World & Jurassic World Dominion
- James Wan, Furious 7 & Aquaman
- Jon Watts, Spider-Man: Far From Home & Spider-Man: No Way Home
- Joss Whedon, The Avengers & Avengers: Age of Ultron
If you’re noticing a pattern, it’s franchises. Cameron previously had the claim to being the only person with two original movies as his billion dollar hits, even besting the Russos in that department. Now that Avatar is its own fully formed franchise though, he might have to cede that ground just a hair. Keep checking ComicBook.com as we continue to track the box office success of Avatar: The Way of Water.
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