Avatar: The Way of Water is in the midst of a box office streak that hasn’t been seen since…well, since the last Avatar movie. Way of Water has spent seven straight weeks atop the domestic box office, tying its predecessor’s lofty mark. James Cameron’s sequel is now the 11th all-time domestic earner and already sits at number four in the all-time worldwide box office charts with over $2 billion in ticket sales. Director James Cameron has proved he has the Midas Touch once again. This is now his third film in the top five of all-time worldwide earners. Avatar: The Way of Water’s continued resonance with moviegoers is impressive. But how does its seven-week streak compare to the all-time box office runs?

This list highlights the films with the most consecutive weeks as number one at the U.S. box office. Some entries are expected, but the list shows that week-on-week box office success is determined by timing as much as overall popularity. The majority of the films were released in the 1980s when blockbuster films and audience appetite combined to produce number-one runs not seen before or since. Here are the movies with the most consecutive weeks atop the box office.

*All box office figures are taken from Box Office Mojo.

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12 Ghostbusters (7 Weeks)

     Columbia Pictures

One of two films on this list released in 1984, Ghostbusters took after its Marshmallow Man and quickly became a behemoth at the box office. Columbia Pictures was initially unsure about the project’s commercial viability, concerned by the need for a big budget and the view that comedies did not possess the same potential profitability as the action-adventure features popular in the early 1980s. But executive Frank Price persisted, drawn to the funny concept and star power of the main cast. The chemistry between Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis elevated the unique story and kept it atop the box office charts for seven straight weeks.

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The film eventually grossed $229 million domestically, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1984. The paranormal comedy’s enduring popularity spawned a mass media franchise including animated series, video games, a reboot, and two sequels. The third installment, starring Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard, will hit theaters in December 2023.

11 Avatar (7 Weeks)

Audiences flocked to see Avatar upon its release in December 2009, and it took seven weeks before the dazzling epic ceded the top spot at the box office. James Cameron’s penchant for spectacle and the use of innovative motion capture and 3D techniques fueled the film’s popularity, resulting in a staggering $2.7 billion worldwide ($743 million domestic) haul. Furthermore, the film’s 49-day run was the longest streak since another Cameron creation, Titanic, ruled theaters 12 years earlier. Avatar was the first film to surpass $2 billion at the global box office and, by the time its initial run concluded, was the second-highest-grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation), behind only Gone with the Wind. Books, video games, and theme park attractions rounded out the franchise’s commercial reach and Cameron’s sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, is currently enjoying its own record-breaking showing at the box office.

10 Avatar: The Way of Water (7 Weeks and Counting)

     20th Century Studios

It seems that the wait has been worth it. Announced in 2010 and shot and edited from 2017 to 2022, Avatar: The Way of Water developed new technologies to produce the stunning visual sequences moviegoers have come to expect from James Cameron. He seems to have fulfilled expectations as the sequel took in $441.7 million in its opening week, the third-best performance in the COVID era. The Way of Water recently hit seven weeks on top of the box office charts and will be looking to pass its predecessor in the first week of February. The film, however, faces tough challengers in M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin and the ensemble comedy 80 for Brady.

9 Porky’s (8 Weeks)

The epitome of a movie that doesn’t age well, Porky’s ruled the box office for eight weeks in 1981-1982. The teen sex farce follows six high school friends in 1950s Florida and their ill-fated quest to lose their virginities. Well reviewed upon release, the film has lost its critical luster over the intervening years. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus advises viewers the film will leave them “feeling in need of a shower.” While Porky’s popularity may be inconceivable to modern audiences, moviegoers in the early 80s turned out in droves. The film eventually took in over $100 million at domestic theaters and spawned two sequels. Howard Stern scooped up the remake rights in 2002, but subsequent legal battles have rendered a return unlikely.

8 Fatal Attraction (8 Weeks)

A hit with critics and audiences alike, Fatal Attraction spent eight weeks at the summit of the box office and received five Academy Award nominations, including a nod for Best Picture. The psychological thriller stars Michael Douglas as Dan, a Manhattan lawyer who has an extramarital affair with Alex (Glenn Close) while his wife and daughter are away for the weekend. What Dan thinks is a one-time fling becomes a perilous entanglement when Alex becomes dangerously obsessed with him. Moviegoers were enthralled by the tight script, lurid thrills, and Close’s spine-tingling performance.

Fatal Attraction eventually took in over $150 million at the domestic box office and became the second-highest-grossing domestic film of 1987. A stage play premiered in 2014 and a series adaptation starring Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson is slated for an April 2023 release on Paramount+.

7 Back to the Future (8 Weeks)

Back to the Future was an instant classic upon its release in July 1985 and audiences ensured that it ruled the box office for eight weeks. But Marty McFly’s trip to the 50s almost didn’t happen. Columbia president Frank Price, who was instrumental in getting Ghostbusters made, rejected Robert Zemeckis’s and Bob Gale’s script because the most successful comedies at the time were ribald, sex-filled jaunts like Animal House and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Yet Steven Spielberg’s support and Zemeckis’s heightened profile after the success of Romancing the Stone persuaded Universal to finance the film.

Back to the Future turned out to be a true four-quadrant hit, delighting audiences of all ages en route to becoming the highest-grossing film of 1985 with a $383 million worldwide gross. McFly’s and Doc Brown’s first adventure was followed by two hit sequels and the public’s enduring love for the franchise has led to theme park attractions, video games, an animated series, and a musical.

6 Good Morning, Vietnam (9 Weeks)

The 1980s was a period of transition for the late, great Robin Williams. After leaving Mork and Mindy in 1982, Williams embarked on a film career. Five years later Williams broke through with the 1987 smash-hit, Good Morning, Vietnam. His turn as an Armed Forces Radio Service DJ entertaining the troops in Vietnam charmed both audiences and critics. The film topped the box office for nine straight weeks and eventually took in over $123 million in the U.S. Williams was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.

But it wasn’t just the movie that audiences loved. The film’s soundtrack peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Charts and was later certified platinum with over 1 million copies sold. A sequel to Good Morning, Vietnam was in development in the early 1990s but creative differences between the star, director, and studio led to the film being scrapped.

5 Crocodile Dundee (9 Weeks)

Crocodile Dundee has the distinction of being the only wholly international film on this list. Paul Hogan’s turn as the eponymous Australian bushman provided thrills and laughs in equal numbers. Australian audiences made it the highest-grossing Australian production ever (a distinction it still holds) while in the U.S. the film ruled the box office for nine straight weeks. All told, Crocodile Dundee grossed $174 million in the United States and over $328 million worldwide.

Two sequels followed in 1988 and 2001, though both failed to meet the lofty standard set by its predecessor. Time has reframed Crocodile Dundee’s critical estimation, however. Initially well-reviewed as a crowd-pleasing fish out-of-water effort, later reviews have criticized the film’s reliance on jokes laced with sexism, racism, homophobia, and transphobia.

4 Home Alone (12 Weeks)

Written and produced by 80s comedy icon John Hughes, Home Alone was a massive hit with theatergoers and has retained its status as a rewatchable holiday classic. Macaulay Culkin charmed audiences as the precocious Kevin McCallister while Joe Pesci’s and Daniel Stern’s bumbling robbers provided the perfect comedic foils. The film spent 12 weeks at the top of the box office, topping the charts from Thanksgiving 1990 to early February 1991.

The movie became a cultural phenomenon, grossing over $470 million dollars worldwide (over $1 billion in 2022 dollars), and was the highest-grossing live-action comedy film for 20 years. Culkin became an international star and Chris Columbus cemented himself as a top family film director. Culkin went on to star in the well-received sequel two years later and four spin-offs have been released since. The original remains a holiday hit and numerous homages and parodies have demonstrated its staying power in the public consciousness.

3 Tootsie (13 Weeks)

Tootsie, Sydney Pollack’s satire about a struggling actor who disguises himself as a woman in order to land a job, spent 13 straight weeks on top of the box office, a record it held for 15 years. The production started amid difficulties and delays, mainly due to going through two directors before Pollack was tapped to helm the project. But his vision, along with Dustin Hoffman’s powerhouse performance as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels, resulted in a stirring story packed with both comedy and drama. Tootsie was a hit with audiences and critics alike, grossing $177 million at the domestic box office (the second highest-grossing film of 1982 behind E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) and receiving 10 Academy Award nominations. The film also spawned a Broadway Musical nominated for 10 Tony Awards, winning two.

2 Beverly Hills Cop (13 Weeks)

     Paramount Pictures

Eddie Murphy was on an unprecedented run of success in the early 1980s. Murphy revitalized Saturday Night Live at 19 years old, starred in two hit movies, released two platinum comedy albums, and rounded that out with a popular standup special. But Beverly Hills Cop was arguably the biggest of them all. Murphy dazzled as Axel Foley, a wisecracking Detroit detective who travels to Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of his best friend.

Part fish-out-of-water comedy, part mystery thriller, Beverly Hills Cop provided laughs and thrills in equal measure. That combination propelled it to 13 straight weeks atop the domestic box office and over $310 million worldwide. With $234 million in the United States, Beverly Hills Cop was the top-grossing U.S. film of 1984 and still ranks in the top 10 of the highest-grossing “R” rated films domestically. The film’s success led to two hit sequels with a fourth film, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley, in the works.

1 Titanic (15 Weeks)

James Cameron must have some sort of magical power that allows him to predict what movies will hit the zeitgeist. Titanic, his third film on this list, has the all-time record of consecutive weeks atop the U.S. box office with 15. The epic romance/disaster drama captured audiences’s hearts and minds upon its release in December 1997, sparking a phenomenon that would see it claim a permanent place in the pop culture pantheon.

Stunning set pieces and the vibrant chemistry between Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet powered Titanic to $1.84 billion worldwide, making it the first film to cross the $1 billion and the highest-ever grossing film of all time. The film held this latter title until another Cameron production, Avatar, took the crown in 2010. A record 14 Academy Award nominations and 11 wins, including Best Director and Best Picture, made the film as successful critically as it was financially. A 2012 3-D re-released proved the film’s staying power as it took in $350 million worldwide, bumping its worldwide theatrical total to over $2.1 billion.