“Avatar: The Way of Water” has only been out in theaters less than a full month, and the film has already earned well over $1.73 billion worldwide. It’s an astonishing number and a total that will likely well exceed $2 billion in just a matter of a couple of weeks. Needless to say, James Cameron has to be celebrating his latest success, and at last night’s Golden Globes, he got the chance to do just that, while also taking a quick jab at streaming services.
READ MORE: James Cameron Says ‘Avatar 2’ Will Break Even: “I’m Gonna Have To Do The Sequels”
While at the Golden Globes, speaking to Variety, James Cameron was asked about being the filmmaker with three of the biggest films of all time. While he was proud of the numbers ‘The Way of Water’ is putting up, the director also was happy to celebrate the way theaters have bounced back and people are coming back to cinemas to see films on the big screen.
“I’m not thinking of it in those terms,” Cameron said. “I’m thinking of it in the terms of we’re going back to theaters around the world. They’re even going back to theaters in China where they’re having this big COVID surge. We’re saying as a society, ‘We need this! We need to go to theaters.’ Enough with the streaming already! I’m tired of sitting on my ass.”
Obviously, the success of “Avatar 2” isn’t the death knell for streaming as a whole. Sure, Cameron’s film is breaking records and doing incredible business, but there are still a lot of issues with theatrical release and studios are relying more than ever on huge franchise spectacles to drive ticket sales. And after COVID led to a massive increase in streaming numbers, it’s impossible to put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak. People have embraced streaming and not even an “Avatar”-level film is going to change that completely.
Still, there’s no denying how impressive Cameron’s latest film is performing. Perhaps that will lead to more people watching films in theaters in the long term. We’ll just have to wait and see. But for now, we can let Cameron continue his victory lap. He’s earned it.