‘Avatar’ Takes Back the Global Box Office Crown from ‘Avengers: Endgame’

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of a new all-time box office champion being crowned. Perhaps re-crowned would be the more accurate way to put it, as James Cameron’s 2009 epic tale Avatar has once again taken over the title, with its new re-release in China this weekend allowing it to usurp the throne from 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. 

Through Saturday afternoon alone, Avatar brought it more than $8 million, which was all that it needed to jump past the $2.797 billion haul for Endgame, putting its total at $2.8 billion.

Speaking with China.org, Cameron referred to his 2009 blockbuster as “timeless”, stating that, “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 agree with Cameron or not, it’s undeniable that the film shook the world when it was first released back in December of 2019, and Cameron certainly hopes that timelessness holds true as he’s gearing up for the many planned sequels he’s been in the process of pulling together for over a decade now. 

Avatar 2, which was once planned for a 2014 release, is currently scheduled for a December 16th, 2022 release date. While we’ve heard it all before with the sequels to that film, Cameron announced in September of 2020 that all live action filming for Avatar 2 was completed, along with 90% of the filming for Avatar 3, so perhaps we may actually get to see these things sometime in the next few years. 

As for how Marvel Studios is taking the news, they tweeted out a congratulatory post today upon hearing the news, stating, “Congratulations to @JimCameron, @JonLandau, and ALL of Na’vi Nation for reclaiming the box office crown! We love you 3000. @OfficialAvatar” 

Will Avatar remain the champion? When it first surpassed Cameron’s previous film, Titanic, it seemed unbeatable, but there’s always a bigger shark ready to strike. It took 10 years before Endgame took over the title, but who knows what the future holds. Perhaps a re-release of Endgame one day could give it the edge. Maybe Cameron will pull it off again and beat himself with Avatar 2. With the existence of theaters at all in a bit of a state of flux right now, there are many questions that only time will be able to answer. For now, Cameron can once again lay his head to sleep at night knowing that he’s King of the world.