On Pandora, the shores are filled with the sounds of breaking records. While “Avatar: The Path of Water” continues to crush the success of the new film in theaters, the global box office raises the latest film by co-writer and director James Cameron to quite high heights. If this film takes the first place in the ranking of the highest-grossing theatrical releases, it will be an impressive feat. However, this may still pale in comparison to the fact that Kate Winslet broke Tom Cruise’s previous record for holding her breath underwater.
The record is what undoubtedly made the Titanic actor smile, and in an interview with USA Today (opens in new tab) Winslet shared this funny opinion that he is the reigning champion in this arena:
Poor Tom. I mean, I don’t know Tom at all—I’ve never met him in my life—but I’m sure he’s tired of hearing this story about how I broke his record. But I liked it. … I was amazed at how well I was doing and how I continued to improve.
This is a story that was definitely discussed during the Avatar 2 press tour. Kate Winslet even told our own Sean O’Connell that she was inspired by the success of the first Avatar to break that record, and it seems she wants to do it again. Although, if you look a little into the press cycle “The Way of Water”, you will understand why Tom Cruise may get tired of listening to this story.
During the production of the first of the four planned/six possible sequels of Avatar, producer John Landau rather excitedly touted Winslet’s underwater abilities. So at least you’re looking at a year or two of Avatar: The Path of Water teasing another record he was going to surpass. This could mean a cinematic war, since the return of Jake Sully and The Sky People took so little time to declare itself as the main competition for the title of the highest-grossing film of 2022.
Tom Cruise’s golden brainchild of 2022, Top Gun: Maverick, is currently still at the top of this year’s global releases with approximately $1.5 billion in the bank. This result was achieved during the year, which showed that the theatrical experience is still holding, and thanks to several reissues, the number has also increased. Meanwhile, two weeks after Avatar’s release: The Way of Water has raised $1.1 billion worldwide; this weekend, we may see Na’vi beat Maverick for the crown.
To be honest, if someone had asked Mr. Cruz about this alleged rivalry, he would probably have shown sincere respect for James Cameron, Kate Winslet and the rest of the Avatar team. He would also probably go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how to push “Mission Impossible: Payback for Death, Part One” so that it would become a potential rival to “The Way of Water”.
But you can still imagine Tom Cruise heading to the office, with his trademark smile and playful laugh, knowing that he’s not the only person trying to take stunts and movies to the next level. Perhaps James Cameron should think about trying to attract Maverick to participate in a future sequel to Avatar. Stars are the limit, as you will see when you see “Avatar: The Way of Water” in the cinema near you. If you need to quickly refresh a previous Pandora story, your Disney+ subscription is all you need to go back.
