The Force Awakens’ As 4th Highest Grossing Of All Time

Topline

James Cameron’s blockbuster sequel Avatar: The Way of Water topped Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens on Saturday to make it the fourth-highest grossing movie of all time, raking in more than $2 billion in worldwide box office revenue and passing a pivotal mark Cameron said the hugely expensive movie would need to pass in order to break even.

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” is now the fourth highest grossing movie of all time.

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Key Facts

Avatar: The Way of Water, Cameron’s long-awaited sequel to Avatar—the highest grossing film of all time—has earned $2.075 billion globally, passing the 2015 Star Wars sequel, The Force Awakens (the seventh film in the series), which made $2.064 globally in 2015, Variety reported Saturday afternoon

Disney, which produced the sequel, announced last week the film was the second fastest to pass the $2 billion mark, following Avengers: Endgame, after taking in $598 domestically, since its release over a month ago.

Coming into the fourth spot comes as a relief for Cameron, who has said the movie would need to be the “third or fourth” highest-grossing movie in history in order to break even, especially after a lackluster opening weekend in the U.S., although it rebounded quickly, grossing $1.1 billion in its first two weeks.

With Avatar: The Way of Water climbing to fourth all time, Cameron has now directed three of the top four, including Avatar (2009) and Titanic (1997)—the third-highest grossing movie of all time.

The second highest was Avengers: Endgame, the 2019 Marvel sequel that grossed $2.79 worldwide, edging out Titanic’s $2.2 billion.

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Big Number

$350 million. That’s how much the movie is estimated to have cost to make, not including tens of millions spent on marketing and promotion throughout the fall and winter, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Chief Critic

Although reviews have generally been positive—including a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.8 rating out of 10 on IMDb—other reviews have been far less supportive, including a scathing Guardian review calling it a “trillion dollar screensaver.” The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, called the three-plus hour film a “hugely entertaining” film, while The Atlantic lauded it as an “authentic spectacle” that cinemas “have been starved of.”

Surprising Fact

Avatar: The Way of Water has been the top-grossing film domestically every day this month, with the exception of one, when sci-fi-thriller M3GAN briefly passed it on its Friday release on January 6, according to data from Box Office Mojo. The Avatar sequel grossed nearly $17.8 million on Friday, its twelfth biggest single-day revenue this month. The highest this month came on Saturday, January 14 ($40.5 million), only outdone by December 26 ($49.9 million) and its opening weekend, making $57.9 million on its opening day.