Well, it’s official, and the timing seemed kind of dubiously suspect given that Kevin Feige was able to announce it on stage at Hall H in San Diego, at Comic-Con, but “Avengers: Endgame” has officially surpassed “Avatar” at the box office and is now the highest-grossing film of all time.
READ MORE: ‘Fantastic Four’: Kevin Feige Says Marvel Studios Is Currently Developing A New Film
After 13 weeks in theaters, and with a bonus-scene added to theaters to help the movie get over the hump, ‘Endgame’ now stands at $2,790.2 billion. The “Avatar” record, previously the #1 grossing film of all time for ten years, is $2,789.7 billion. Surpassing the all-time record seemed out of reach at one point, but that “re-release” with new footage, bonus clips and DVD teasers really helped give the movie that extra push.
If James Cameron is going to create a conceding and congratulatory graphic along the lines of how Lucasfilm, Marvel, Spielberg, Lucas, and even James Cameron has done before when their records have been passed, he hasn’t made it yet. To be fair, the record was just announced last night by Marvel’s Kevin Feige, so there’s still time. Update: you can see the poster below.
‘Avengers: Endgame’ broke many and most of the box office all-time records—the fastest film to $1 billion, the fastest to $2 billion (all of 11 days), the highest opening weekend worldwide gross (over $1 billion), the highest opening weekend gross domestically, highest opening weekend IMAX gross, etc. However, the one record ‘Endgame’ couldn’t snap out of existence was the still-standing record for the highest-grossing film of all time in the United States.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” still holds that record and very decidedly at $936.6 million. ‘Endgame’ is still playing in theaters, but it’s not going to get much higher than the $854.2 million it has already amassed.
READ MORE: Disney-Fox Merger: What Does It Mean For The Big Film Franchises?
For those that feel like being pedants, the highest-grossing film of all time adjusted for inflation is still “Gone With The Wind.” “Avengers: Endgame” is 16 on that list and the original “Star Wars” is number two, but that’s all we’ll say about that.
“Avatar” played in theaters for 34 weekends in 2009, but that was a different era, and the film had a much different arc, opening to $77 million in its opening weekend and then went on to gross $760.5M, which still stands as the third highest-grossing film of all domestically.
READ MORE: James Cameron Doesn’t Like “The Feel” of ‘2001’ And Doesn’t Really Care About Netflix
Cameron will have at least four more times to challenge the ‘Endgame’ record as he has four more “Avatar” films coming, but something tells me—even if people seem to generally underestimate Cameron and the overall “Avatar” impact—that his sequels won’t be a match for a 22 film culmination of movies that went on consistently for 10 years.
If you’re getting sick of Marvel, you better strap in and grit your teeth. Last night, Marvel announced all of its Phase 4 plans, ten projects total, some of them films, many of them Disney+ streaming series and their reign won’t be ending any time soon.
Anyhow, Marvel loves you 3,000 and then some for seeing ‘Endgame’ three, four or however many times you saw it in theaters. “Avatar 2” hits theaters December 17, 2021 (provided there isn’t another delay) and “Avengers: Endgame” hits digital July 30 and Blu-Ray and DVD on August 13.
#JamesCameron And #Avatar congratulate @Marvel and #AvengersEndgame for becoming the box office king of the world. https://t.co/mmQ9ZSi9qv pic.twitter.com/5xFMELXdpn
— The Playlist ???? (@ThePlaylist) July 22, 2019