Avatar: The Way of Water on pace to break even – and beat Top Gun: Maverick at the box office

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(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)

Avatar: The Way of Water is continuing to dominate the box office after its fourth weekend of release. The long-awaited sequel has now grossed over $1.4 billion globally, setting it on pace to become one of the biggest movies of all time.

The movie has achieved $444 million at the US domestic box office and $956 million internationally. This means it's closing in on becoming 2022’s biggest release, as it nears Top Gun: Maverick’s $1.48 billion haul at the box office. Per Collider, the movie’s break-even point is also around $1.4 billion, meaning the sequel should have hit – or be about to hit – that target. 

The Way of Water opened initially to mixed reviews and a slightly muted first box office weekend. However, love for James Cameron’s return to Pandora has been steadily growing since then, landing the movie an audience score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The sequel picks up a decade after the first movie as Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) are forced away from their home to protect their children. However, despite settling with an underwater community on the other side of Pandora, trouble isn’t far behind as they must battle to stay alive.

Cameron has already filmed the third movie in the Avatar franchise, as well as some of the fourth movie. The director explained he had done this to avoid "the Stranger Things effect" of child actors being much older than their characters. Avatar 5 is also in the works, meaning that there’s plenty more Pandora on the way. 

Avatar: The Way of Water is out in theaters. For more on the movie, check out our Avatar: The Way of Water ending explained and our breakdown of the Avatar 2's high frame rate

For what else is coming to theaters, check out our guide to upcoming 2023 movie release dates.

Fay Watson
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I’m the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for the Total Film and SFX sections online. I previously worked as a Senior Showbiz Reporter and SEO TV reporter at Express Online for three years. I've also written for The Resident magazines and Amateur Photographer, before specializing in entertainment.