“Avatar” has reclaimed the title of the highest-grossing movie ever worldwide, taking the crown back from “Avengers: Endgame” on Saturday after a re-release in China that earned the James Cameron film an estimated $8.9M since Friday. This both closes and surpasses the $7.82M global box office lead held by the Marvel film prior to the re-release.
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The numbers on “Avatar” are expected to continue growing throughout the coming days, a bit over a decade after the film was originally released in China. For those keeping track at home, this means that Disney just surpassed Disney as the studio with the highest-grossing movie ever worldwide, which is just a little less exciting than when it was competing studios.
Speaking with China.org, Cameron commented on how relevant “Avatar” remains a decade after its initial release, and backlash against the film’s story. “We’ve got climate change, we’ve got deforestation, our relationship with nature is more at risk than it’s ever been, and ‘Avatar’ is about those things, but it also is a timeless film,” the filmmaker said. “Some people criticize the stories for being too simple. It wasn’t that simple — it was universal. It was something that everybody everywhere could understand and emotionally related to.”
Whether you thought the script was too derivative of “Pocahontas,” or fell in love with the world of Pandora, there’s no denying the box office phenomenon that was “Avatar.” However, Cameron doesn’t see the film’s success as a product of pop culture. “In its time, it may have sort of been a pop culture moment around ‘Avatar.’ But it wasn’t the result of pop culture. It wasn’t responding to trends in music or in film or TV. It was kind of its own thing.”
In a response to the box office news, Marvel Studios tweeted a congratulatory message to Cameron. “Congratulations to @JimCameron, @JonLandau, and ALL of Na’vi Nation for reclaiming the box office crown! We love you 3000.”
Cameron has been busy working on the many “Avatar” sequels, with the first of which scheduled for December 16, 2022, and part 5 for December 22, 2028.