Avatar: The Way Of Water And Titanic Are About To Enter A Tight Race At The Box Office

Just ahead of the 25th anniversary rerelease of James Cameron's "Titanic" next weekend, things have gotten pretty interesting. Cameron's latest ocean-themed movie, "Avatar: The Way of Water," has overtaken "Titanic" to become the third highest grossing movie of all time at the international box office according to Deadline, which reports that the movie's overseas total hit an estimated $1.538 billion this weekend.

In the worldwide box office rankings, "Titanic" still holds the No. 3 spot by a margin of around $20 million. Though it was finally knocked off the top spot in its eighth weekend of release by M. Night Shyamalan's "Knock at the Cabin," "Avatar: The Way of Water" nonetheless added another $10.8 million at the domestic box office, and at that pace it would almost certainly have ended up taking the bronze medal from "Titanic" before the end of its theatrical run. But the big boat movie is coming back around for another victory voyage.

"Titanic" is returning to theaters on February 10, newly remastered in 4K HDR 3D. The movie was first painstakingly converted to 3D under the supervision of Cameron for the 2012 rerelease, which was in honor of the 100th anniversary of the real life tragedy. In between making "Avatar" sequels, Cameron has been hyping this latest rerelease of his 1997 epic, promising cinephiles that "even if you've seen the movie before, this version will make you feel as if you're seeing the film for the first time."

Of course, all-time box office rankings don't really matter (especially since they're not typically adjusted for inflation). But watching the box office is the closest I get to being interested in a sport, so let's take a look at which James Cameron movie is likely to come out on top in this Cameron-vs-Cameron deathmatch.

There aren't a lot of movies that could significantly nudge the needle on their lifetime box office totals by returning to theaters, but two of the titles that have were directed by Cameron. After losing the No. 1 spot an the all-time list to "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019, "Avatar" returned to reclaim the throne in 2021 with a rerelease in China that grossed $58 million, and then topped up its total again with a worldwide rerelease in 2022 that added another $76 million. It now stands less than $80 million away from becoming the first movie ever to gross $3 billion at the box office (one or two more rereleases will probably do it).

But the true titan of the rerelease is "Titanic," whose 2012 return to theaters added an absolutely staggering $350 million to its lifetime total. While some of that is probably owed to the fresh addition of 3D, at a time when RealD 3D was still relatively new and exciting, "Titanic" doesn't really need groundbreaking visual effects or updated tech to sell the theatrical experience; it was already epic enough to be demand being seen on the big screen back in 1997. As an added bonus, it's releasing in time for Valentine's Day, for those of you who prefer your romances to end tragically. 

Early projections from The Hollywood Reporter estimated that "Titanic" will add another $30-40 million with this rerelease, but that "Avatar: The Way of Water" will ultimately overtake it to claim the No. 3 spot. However, more recent speculation from Forbes' Mark Hughes bets against "The Way of Water" winning the race, pointing out that "Titanic" has time on its side as the new (well, sort of) release.

Whoever ultimately ends up winning, it will be fun to watch these two James Cameron epics go head-to-head next weekend. If you have six and a half hours to spare, you could even book a double bill.