Avatar: The Way of Water becomes Sixth film in history to pass $2 bn globally

According to a report in Variety, It's the sixth film in history - and first in pandemic times - to cross the coveted milestone, joining an exclusive club that includes Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Avengers: Infinity War.

Now, Cameron is responsible for three of the six-highest-grossing movies of all time. He's also the only director with three films to cross $2 billion. Notably, Zoe Saldana, who plays Neytiri in the Avatar series, has now starred in four of the six films to cross $2 billion. She also appears in both Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War, reprising her Guardians of the Galaxy role of Gamora.

So far, The Way of Water has generated $598 million at the domestic box office and $1.4 billion internationally. Overseas, the standout markets are China ($229 million), France ($129 million), Germany ($117 million), Korea ($96 million) and the United Kingdom ($81 million). It's especially impressive that 'Avatar 2' managed to crack $2 billion, a benchmark that's been impossible in COVID times, because not every market is re-connecting with the Na'vi.

The follow-up isn't playing in Russia, where the original grossed $116 million, and it's flopping in Japan with $28 million, a dramatic decrease from the first film's $176 million haul.

The long-delayed sequel to 2009's Avatar opened in December and remained hugely popular in the weeks since its release.