James Cameron’s Titanic was the first film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide.
The film crossed the milestone during its successful theatrical run and later returned to cinemas in several re-releases. Its initial worldwide success was already extraordinary, but subsequent releases, including a 3D version marking the film’s 15th anniversary, pushed its lifetime total higher.
Titanic was the first movie to pass $1 billion worldwide as well. James Cameron’s Avatar later became the second film to exceed $2 billion and eventually surpassed Titanic before Titanic reclaimed the top position after re-releases. Box-office rankings can therefore change over time, but Titanic’s historical first remains fixed.
The figure refers to worldwide theatrical gross, not adjusted ticket sales, home-video revenue, or inflation-adjusted earnings. Those different measurements can produce different rankings and are a common source of confusion in discussions of the biggest films.