James Cameron is the only director in history to have three films gross more than $2 billion at the global box office.
Over the weekend, his latest picture, Avatar: The Way of Water, passed the huge milestone, making it his third feature to do so.
It is only the sixth picture in history to gross $2 billion, and Cameron, 68, now has three of the four most successful films of all time.
In November of last year, the Canadian veteran filmmaker admitted that The Way of Water needed to be the third or fourth best grossing film in order to generate a profit.
He apparently told studio bosses: ‘You have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.’
As reported by Variety, the director, who also helmed the first two Terminator films and 1986’s Aliens, said The Way of Water’s budget was ‘very expensive.’


Its motion capture technology was brand new at the time, and many thought it would revolutionise the world of cinema.
Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens are the other films to cross the $2 billion mark worldwide.
Endgame briefly replaced Avatar as the most successful film of all time between July 2019 and March 2021, only for an Avatar re-release to return it back to the top.
Adjusted for inflation, the list of most successful films of all time includes Gone With the Wind (1939), which grossed $3.9 billion worldwide in today’s money.
In addition, The Ten Commandments from 1956, The Sound of Music and Dr. Zhivago from 1965, Star Wars from 1977, and E.T. from 1982 round out the top ten inflation-adjusted films.