“Avatar: Fire and Ash” surpasses $1 billion globally after 18 days

Just over two weeks after its release, the third movie in James Cameron’s blockbuster “Avatar” franchise has officially reached $1 billion at the global box office.

In its first 18 days, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” notched ticket sales of $306 million domestically and over $777 million internationally, Variety reported on Sunday. However, while only a few films manage to reach this milestone in their lifetime, the first two installments in the sci-fi saga did it in slightly shorter periods (17 days and 14 days, respectively).

Out of the blue?

Cameron’s latest flick had some big box office shoes to fill: 2009’s “Avatar” remains the highest-grossing movie of all time, with a worldwide total of $2.9 billion, per movie financial analysis site The Numbers, and 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” stands in third place at $2.3 billion.

Along with his 1997 epic “Titanic” — the first movie ever to break the nominal $1 billion at the global box office — James Cameron is now the first director in history to have four consecutive films cross the billion-dollar mark. (Granted, they span almost three decades.) But even with another smash hit Na’vi movie, Cameron still isn’t the world’s top-grossing director.

According to The Numbers, Steven Spielberg, the legendary filmmaker behind “Jurassic Park” and “Indiana Jones,” is the highest-grossing director of all time, accruing ~$10.7 billion across an astounding 37 directing credits, not inclusive of the many producer credits to his name (and not adjusted for inflation).

With “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” Cameron has now pulled in a total of ~$9.8 billion over 15 directing credits, bringing his average gross to ~$653 million. While this is still slightly less than the average reported for the Marvel-directing Russo brothers, among others, if the latest “Avatar” keeps momentum to exceed $2 billion like its predecessors, Cameron could rise up both rankings.