Avengers: Endgame Passes Avatar To Reclaim All-Time Highest-Grossing Movie Title
by Ryan Scott · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
Google Discover
It's official: Earth's Mightiest Heroes have taken back the box office crown from James Cameron. Thanks to "Avengers Endgame: Encore" ruling the box office as Marvel seeks to build hype for "Avengers: Doomsday," the massive superhero crossover has once again reclaimed the title as the highest-grossing movie of all time. Once again, "Avatar" now has to be content with second place ... for now, at least.
Per Variety, the "Encore" re-release has brought the lifetime gross of "Avengers: Endgame" to $2.925 billion globally. That means it has overtaken the lifetime total of "Avatar," which has amassed $2,923,710,708 to date. Cameron's "Avatar" became the biggest movie of all-time twice: First in 2010 during its initial run in theaters when it made $2.74 billion worldwide, then again in 2022 thanks to a theatrical re-release. But now, it's the Marvel Cinematic Universe that stands tall over Pandora as the number one movie in history, unadjusted for inflation.
In 2019, "Avengers: Endgame" took the MCU to a record-shattering box office peak. The highly anticipated culmination of Marvel's Infinity Saga, directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, opened to an astonishing $1.2 billion worldwide. From there, it continued to stack cash until, eventually, it pulled in $2.79 billion, which was just enough to overtake "Avatar" at the time. It was at the height of superheroes being at the center of popular cinema before 2020 brought the Covid-19 pandemic and a total upending of the status quo in Hollywood.
But as hype for this December's "Avengers: Doomsday" continues to reveal itself, Marvel was able to cleverly find a way to take the crown back. The Russo Brothers dubbed "Avengers: Endgame" as required viewing before "Avengers: Doomsday," which helped motivate fans to turn up, along with the promise of exclusive new footage.
Avengers: Endgame and Avatar have both been the number one movie of all time twice
What's especially interesting is that both "Avengers: Endgame" and "Avatar" have each been the number one movie of all time twice. There's been a playful back and forth between them over the last seven years. James Cameron's original sci-fi epic was originally released by Fox in 2009. But Disney acquired Fox in 2019, which means that both of these movies also exist under the same umbrella. Either way, Disney wins.
When his movie was first dethroned, Cameron congratulated "Avengers: Endgame" for beating the "Avatar" box office record. There hasn't been any bad blood between the two sides, at least not publicly. As far as most people seemed to interpret the record-breaking, it meant people were going to the movies, which was healthy for the box office. Records are made to be broken, as it were.
Still, Cameron also thought it was a certainty that "Avatar" would reclaim the box office crown from "Endgame." That proved to be correct. The question that we're left with now is, how long will the Avengers manage to hold onto that crown? Is this a record that can ever be broken? And, more importantly, will it be "Avatar" that manages to do the unthinkable and take back the record for a third time?
It's worth remembering that Cameron's groundbreaking 2009 sci-fi blockbuster will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2009. If Disney does another global re-release, "Avatar" might soon become the only $3 billion movie ever at the box office. If that happens, it would leapfrog "Endgame" to take the number one spot again. We'll see what the future holds, but for now, Marvel gets to pop some champagne.
"Avengers Endgame: Encore" is in theaters now.