Why Avatar 2 Will Beat Infinity War and The Force Awakens after No Way Home

Avatar 2 has taken huge strides and all that people can talk about is its box office numbers. Fans doubted whether James Cameron could bring back the magic of Avatar (2009) and were unsure whether there was enough fan interest to make a sequel successful.

However, Cameron proved people wrong as Avatar: The Way of Water is now about to enter the exclusive $2 billion club. James Cameron will become the only director to have achieved this feat three times, and that too consecutively.

Avatar 2 is now just inches away from beating the record set by Spider-Man: No Way Home. But the question remains whether it can take down Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and maybe even Titanic.

---

Avatar 2 has seen a minimal drop at the domestic and international box office

Avatar 2 box office (Image via Sportskeeda)

As of this writing, Avatar: The Way of Water stands at $1.916 billion worldwide. Fans now hope for it to cross Spider-Man: No Way Home’s $1.921 billion.

As per Box Office Mojo, on its fifth weekend (January 13-15), Avatar 2 turned in $32 million domestically, which was just a 28.4% drop from its previous weekend. Since Monday was also a holiday, it brought in $39.8 million in the four-day period (January 13-16), and its domestic total now stands at $571 million.

Even the international box office only saw a drop of 36% from the last weekend. Resulting in The Way of Water earning over $100 million globally on its fifth weekend.

Since its global box office drops are so minimal, it won’t just enter the $2 billion club, but will most likely be able to go past Avengers: Infinity War’s $2.048 billion and Star Wars: The Force Awakens’s $2.069 billion in the next two weekends.

---

Will Avatar: The Way of Water beat Titanic?

Will Avatar 2 beat Titanic? (Image via 20th Century Studios)

Avatar: The Way of Water has had a clear road to $2 billion without any major competition besides Puss in Boots 2 and M3GAN. But the real competition will start on February 3, when Knock at the Cabin arrives. This may put a tiny dent in Avatar 2’s earnings as it would likely lose some premium screens.

From February 17, the hype for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will take over. So, Avatar: The Way of Water will surely end up making over $2.1 billion. But it will probably have a tough time reaching Titanic’s $2.194 billion. Even if Disney plays it in theaters throughout February, the massive competition in March won’t allow the film to make a lot of money.

So, if Avatar: The Way of Water hopes to go past $2.2 billion, then it will have to depend upon re-releases. Disney could either plan a re-release for it in late 2023, or they could do it just a couple of months before Avatar 3, which is set to arrive on December 20, 2024. Only a well-planned re-release would allow the film to beat Titanic and become the third-biggest film of all time.

---

The China factor

No Way Home and Avatar 2 (Image via Disney and Sony)

Many would argue that No Way Home should still be considered a winner against Avatar 2 as it didn’t get a release in China. The Way of Water has made $214 million in China so far.

Since No Way Home was a global phenomenon, and Spider-Man: Far From Home also made $198 million in the country, it’s speculated that No Way Home would have gone past at least $250 million, if not $300 million there.

China contributed $632 million to Avengers: Endgame and $359 million to Avengers: Infinity War. So, No Way Home could have been big in the country, and it could have been victorious against Avatar 2. However, one would never know how much the Spider-Man threequel would have earned in China, and Avatar: The Way of Water clearly stands victorious on the charts.