Avatar: The Way of Water Becomes 7th-Highest Grossing Movie of All Time
Another day, another milestone for Avatar: The Way of the Water. The James Cameron-directed sequel hit theaters on December 16th and it just won the box office for the fourth weekend in a row. This week, it also beat Top Gun: Maverick to become the highest-grossing film of 2022, and it just reached a new number on the all-time top-grossing list. According to Deadline, Avatar: The Way of the Water is now the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time.
The Avatar sequel has now earned $1.708 billion at the box office and has officially overtaken 2019's The Lion King ($1,663,075,401 billion) and 2015's Jurassic World ($1,671,537,444 billion). The current top six are Avatar ($2,922,917,914 billion), Avengers: Endgame ($2,797,501,328 billion), Titanic ($2,201,647,264 billion), Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens ($2,069,521,700 billion), and Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1,916,306,995). Of course, that means Cameron now has three films in the top seven. Way of the Water has also become the highest international earner of the pandemic era and the fifth overall after Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic, and Avengers: Infinity War.
How Did M3GAN Do at the Box Office?
Avatar: Way of the Water may have won the weekend, but the new Blumhouse horror still gave Cameron a run for his money. In fact, M3GAN actually beat Avatar at the box office on Friday. M3GAN ended up earning more than expected this weekend, bringing in $30.2 million from 3,509 theaters in North American and $14.8 million internationally, bringing its current total to $45 million. Currently, Avatar: The Way of the Water currently has a 77% critics score and a 93% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes while M3GAN is currently up on the review site with a 94% critics score and a 79% audience score. ComicBook.com's Patrick Cavanaugh gave the new horror movie a 3 out of 5 in his review while ComicBook.com's Liam Crowley gave Avatar: The Way of the Water a 5 out of 5.
What Is M3GAN About?
You can read the official synopsis for M3GAN here: "M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child's greatest companion and a parent's greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Get Out's Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to. When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House), Gemma's unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems -- a decision that will have unimaginable consequences."
M3GAN and Avatar: The Way of the Water are now playing in theaters.