'Avatar 2' surpasses 'Top Gun Maverick', becomes 2022's biggest film

James Cameron's 'Avatar The Way of Water' crossed the $1.5 billion mark, and with it overtook Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick'. Now the latter film is no longer the highest-grossing movie of 2022. Until now, 'The Way of Water' has grossed $1.51 billion as per Box Office Mojo. 'Maverick', on the other hand, collected $1.488 billion. It is safe to say that Cameron's science-fiction epic will surpass $2 billion and even $2.5 billion. And the reason for that is the movie has no serious competition for the next few weeks due to its December 16 release. It is going to have pretty long legs. 

Out of that $1.51 billion amount, the film has grossed $718.73 million in North America, its domestic market, and $770 million overseas. 

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A sequel to 2009's 'Avatar', it continues the story of the Sully family and introduces new adventures for Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) a paraplegic marine who sided with the Na’vi in the conflict against humans in the original and became one of the tall, lithe, and blue-hued natives himself. He and his Na’vi wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) have children now: three of theirs and two adopted. The stakes are higher than ever before. Oh, and an old foe is back in a different, er, avatar.

'Avatar: The Way of Water' has received positive reviews. On the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film scored 77 percent. Wion's review of the film read, "Basically, I have the same complaints with ‘The Way of Water’ that I had with the original ‘Avatar’. No one in their right mind would take exception to his vision, but beneath all that eye candy, the film has a painfully conventional story involving conventional characters told in a traditional Cameron way. The director has never been an impressive deviser of complex, gripping plots and characters beyond the surface level. He does have the uncanny ability to build exciting narratives around action set pieces, and 'The Way of Water' is no exception. 'The Way of Water' is, in effect, a typical Cameron movie with all its glories and downfalls.'