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James Cameron’s belated sequel Avatar: The Way of Water matches Avatar 2009’s record for weekends spent at No. 1 in the domestic box office.
Avatar: The Way of Water has continued its titanic box office run by matching a record held by the original 2009 film. The delayed sequel, which came out on December 16, sees director James Cameron reuniting with original cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang for another journey to the distant moon of Pandora, the home to the Na’vi. The film has taken the world by storm, with its box office quickly rising past $2 billion to become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time worldwide.
Per Variety, the record-shattering Avatar: The Way of Water box office run has just accomplished another major achievement. This weekend, which saw no other major wide releases, will become the seventh weekend in a row where the film takes the No. 1 spot in the domestic box office. This will match the number of weekends that the original film held the No. 1 spot back in 2009.
Can Avatar: The Way of Water Become The #1 Grossing Movie of All Time?
Although the film has shown some signs of slowing down at the domestic box office, Avatar: The Way of Water has the opportunity to extend its No. 1 streak even further than the original Avatar. However, there are only two more weeks where it has the opportunity to do so, as it will surely be knocked from its perch by the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on February 17. The next two weekends will see the Avatar sequel competing on a battleground with strong contenders like M. Night Shyamalan’s new thriller Knock at the Cabin and the Valentine’s week release of the sensual sequel Magic Mike’s Last Dance, but it still has every opportunity to keep its streak going for at least a little longer.
However, the big question remains as to whether the sequel has what it takes to become the No. 1 film of all time. Currently, only three movies stand between Avatar: The Way of Water and that title: Cameron’s own 1997 romantic epic Titanic, the 2019 Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover film Avengers: Endgame, and the original Avatar. While it has already made substantial strides up the chart and seems poised to overtake Titanic sometime in the coming month, there is still a gap of around $806 million that it needs to close in order to reach the top.
That is a substantial amount of money, considering that there are only six films in 2022 that made more than $800 million over their entire run. However, if Avatar: The Way of Water continues to turn in such strong numbers in international territories and especially in China, where it is one of the only American films of the pandemic era to be allowed to run, it could very well reach that goal. However, Ant-Man could buffet those hopes with what is expected to be a huge gross as it kicks off Phase 5 of the MCU.
Source: Variety
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