To celebrate its one-month anniversary in theaters, Avatar: The Way of Water will pass the $2 billion mark at the box office, adding yet another impressive notch onto its belt of commercial success.
Not only will it become only the sixth film in history to ever reach 10 figures twice over, but it gives James Cameron even more bragging rights as the undisputed king of crowd-pleasing cinema. Of the sextet of blockbuster to have sailed past $2 billion, three of them will have been directed by the same person, which is nothing short of astonishing.
In fact, J.J. Abrams is looking like the odd one out in the $2 billion club seeing as Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the only one that wasn’t helmed by either Cameron or the Russo brothers, with the first two installments in the Avatar series joining Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame in such rarefied air.
Having become the first filmmaker ever to call the shots on three features to rack up $2 billion in ticket sales, it wouldn’t be hyperbolic to suggest that the only person capable of beating Cameron is now Cameron himself. While Joe and Anthony Russo would conceivably join the club with ease were they to return for Avengers: Secret Wars, Kevin Feige has intimated that it’s not going to happen.
That means the next release on the horizon to hail from somebody with a $2 billion hit under their belt is… yep, you guessed it, James Cameron’s Avatar 3. Can he make it an unprecedented quartet? Based on the evidence, he can and most likely will.
