Disney's 'Avatar' sequel crosses $1 billion at global box office

Avatar: The Way of Water surpassed $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales after two weeks in theaters, Walt Disney Co. said.

The movie reached the sales milestone faster than Top Gun: Maverick, from Paramount Global, and Jurassic World: Dominion, from Comcast Corp.'s Universal, the only other 2022 movies to sell $1 billion of tickets. It's the fastest a film has made that much since Spider-Man: No Way Home a year ago, according to a statement from Disney on Wednesday.

The Way of Water is one of the most expensive movies ever made and will likely need to keep up a strong sales pace to break even. Director James Cameron said it needs to take in $2 billion in ticket sales to make money. The first Avatar made almost $3 billion at the global box office.

In the US and Canada, the sequel has crossed $300 million in sales, Disney said. Earlier this week, the Burbank, California-based company said that the picture had generated $95.5 million in ticket sales in those markets over the long weekend alone, far exceeding expectations given theater closures in some states due to blizzards.

The film follows the indigenous Na'vi humanoid race that inhabits a moon called Pandora and the colonization that threatens them. About 78% of critics recommend it, according to the review site RottenTomatoes.com.