The last couple of months at the US box office has seen Avatar: The Way of Water break new records, with the film eventually rising up to become the third-highest grossing movie of all time, globally. The bad news for director James Cameron is that Avatar 2 has slipped back to fourth place in the rankings, and he has no one to blame but himself.
A recent re-release of Titanic saw fans flock back to theaters for a new Valentine’s weekend viewing of the 1997 classic, with the film earning over $6.4 million in ticket sales domestically and $15.9 million internationally. Still clocking in at a butt-numbing three and 15 minutes in length, this version of the film is being screened in 3D 4K HDR with a high-frame rate. With a combined total of $22.3 million from that weekend release, that was enough for Titanic to reclaim its spot on the charts and send Avatar 2 back to fourth place.
Cameron still has plenty of reasons to smile though, as out of the top five highest-grossing movies of all time, three of them are movies that he directed. Cameron is now moving ahead with his planned sequels, beginning with Avatar 3 in 2024. According to the rest of the weekend results (via Box Office Mojo), very little changed in the US top ten.