Disney/20th Century Studios
- "Avatar: The Way of Water" is now the No. 5 biggest movie of all time.
- It surpassed "Avengers: Infinity War" with a box office total of $2.055 billion worldwide.
- Director James Cameron has made three of the top five highest-grossing movies ever.
James Cameron is in a league of his own.
The filmmaker has now directed three of the top five biggest movies of all time across three different decades: 1997's "Titanic" (No. 3), 2009's "Avatar" (No. 1), and "Avatar: The Way of Water."
"The Way of Water" surpassed "Avengers: Infinity War" on Wednesday to become the No. 5 highest-grossing movie ever with a box office total of $2.055 billion worldwide, according to Comscore.
It will likely surpass "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" to become the fourth-biggest movie ever by the end of the week.
The movie — which was nominated for four Oscars on Tuesday, including best picture — still has a ways to go to catch the first "Avatar," which grossed $2.9 billion. But it's been successful enough for Cameron to go ahead making the planned third, fourth, and fifth movies in the franchise, set to be released in 2024, 2026, and 2028, respectively.
"I know what I'm going to be doing the next six or seven years," Cameron said on a recent episode of HBO Max's "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace?"
He's also said that he has ideas for sixth and seventh installments, but would consider passing the directing torch.
"Obviously, I'm not going to be able to make 'Avatar' movies indefinitely, the amount of energy required," Cameron told The Hollywood Reporter in November. "I would have to train somebody how to do this because, I don't care how smart you are as a director, you don't know how to do this."