»Avatar – The Way of Water« overtakes »Titanic«, now in third place in the global sales table

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Scene from »Avatar 2«: The blue hour never ends

Photo: 20th Century Studios / 20th Century Fox

»Avatar – The Way of Water« continues to sweep the box office: Director James Cameron's science fiction adventure has moved up to third place in the world rankings of the most commercially successful films, according to US industry journals.

According to this, »Avatar 2« has grossed 2.243 billion dollars worldwide since its theatrical release in mid-December.

That was just enough to push Cameron's "Titanic" (1997) -- with global gross of $2.242 billion -- into fourth place.

First up is Cameron's 2009 Avatar, grossing $2.92 billion.

The blockbuster »Avengers: Endgame« (2019; directed by Anthony and Joe Russo) follows in second place with revenues of around 2.79 billion dollars.

Rounding out the top five is 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (aka "Star Wars: Episode VII"; directed by JJ Abrams) in fifth place at $2.07 billion.

In Germany, »Avatar – The Way of Water« even took first place in the historical sales rankings at the weekend: 129 million euros in sales in 68 days.

The film broke the record sales set by 1998's Titanic.

In 2017, Cameron began working on four "Avatar" sequels concurrently, with more to come in 2024.

»Avatar: The Way of Water«, starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Kate Winslet and Sigourney Weaver, is nominated for four Oscars – for visual effects, but also in the top category »Best Picture«.

feb/dpa