James Cameron is the king of the box office as “Titanic” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” lead global box office charts over newcomer “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.”
“Titanic,” which returns to theaters in honor of its 25th anniversary, grossed $22.3 million at the global box office, while “Avatar: The Way of Water” added $25.8 million in its ninth weekend of release. “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” the third entry in Channing Tatum’s stripper saga, landed in first place at the domestic box office with $8.2 million, but the Warner Bros. release trailed Cameron’s blockbusters globally with $18.6 million globally.
“Titanic” and “The Way of Water” rank as the third- and fourth-highest grossing movies in history with the former standing at $2.217 billion and latter currently at $2.213 billion. In the coming days, “Avatar 2” is expected to swap places with “Titanic” on the all-time box office charts.
Over the weekend, “Titanic” collected $6.4 million at the domestic box office and $15.9 million internationally. It’s a decent turnout for a movie that debuted on the big screen a quarter of a century ago and remains widely available at home. Paramount is distributing the film in North America and Disney is handling international markets.
“Titanic” sailed to third place on weekend charts behind “Avatar 2,” which took the No. 2 spot with an impressive $6.9 million. After two months on the big screen, “The Way of Water” has generated $647 million in North America and $1.567 billion at the international box office.
Overseas, the follow-up film ranks as the third-biggest release ever behind only 2009’s “Avatar” and 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” The sequel has generated especially big business in China with $242 million to date. Those ticket sales outpace the original film, which earned $240 million in the country.
Cameron is responsible for three of the four biggest releases in history, with “Avatar” still standing as the champ with $2.92 billion. “Avengers: Endgame,” which wasn’t directed by Cameron, looms large in second place with $2.7 billion.