At SDCC 2019, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed that Avengers: Endgame is set to beat Avatar and take over as the new highest grossing movie of all time. As of now, Avengers: Endgame sits at $2.782 billion compared to Avatar‘s $2.788 billion. Endgame is expected to pull in over $1.28 million this weekend from 958 theaters and will race past Avatar, beating the record held by James Cameron for nearly 10 years.
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo were overwhelmed with the news. When asked about the same at Comic Con 2019 during their panel, the duo had this to say:
The fact that people have responded to Endgame this way and they’ve been following theses characters for so long, it’s cathartic for us to see in that the storytelling has played out globally. James Cameron is an idol for us, and he’s fed our passion for filmmaking from the beginning.
Around the end of its original run, Endgame was $37 million short of Avatar‘s record. A heavily marketed re-release last month with an unfinished deleted scene, a Stan Lee tribute and a director’s commentary intro helped propel the movie toward its final million dollars. Endgame started out phenomenally, besting Infinity War and Titanic in a matter of 10 days but the final stretch has been somewhat gruelling.
As of this writing, there exist 5 movies that have grossed more than $2 billion, with two each by James Cameron and the Russo Brothers and one by J. J. Abrams in Star Wars. It’s quite reflective of some of the most powerful brands in filmmaking today, with Marvel, Star Wars and Cameron representing the cream of the crop.
Walt Disney Chairman Alan Horn issued a statement on the matter as well, which you can read after the jump. Avengers: Endgame is still running in limited theaters so catch it while you still can.
A huge congratulations to the Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios teams, and thank you to the fans around the world who lifted Avengers: Endgame to these historic heights. Of course, even with the passage of a decade, the impact of James Cameron’s Avatar remains as powerful as ever, and the astonishing achievements of both of these films are ongoing proof of the power of movies to move people and bring them together in a shared experience. The talented filmmakers behind these worlds have much more in store, and we look forward to the future of both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Pandora.
