Avatar beats Avengers: Endgame to reclaim its box office record

James Cameron’s science fiction epic Avatar spent a decade as history’s highest-grossing movie. But when Avengers: Endgame endgame came out in 2019, it rocketed to success and took Cameron’s crown. But now, Avatar is back on top after a successful rerelease in China.

Once a rerelease was announced, it seemed only a matter of time before Avatar reclaimed its title as box office champion, since it was only trailing Endgame by about $7.4 million. As expected, it made up the difference in no time at all. Endgame’s box office gross currently sits at $2.798 billion. Over the weekend, Avatar cleared $2.8 billion.

There’s clearly a lot of respect between the two franchises. In 2019, when Endgame overtook Avatar, director James Cameron issued a statement of congratulations. And now that the tables have turned, Marvel Studios has acknowledged the achievement:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Avatar is a very popular movie in China, so it’s no surprise the rerelease was a success. Also, James Cameron is working on five sequels to the movie, so it makes sense that Disney would want to build buzz for it again. The first of those sequels is due to arrive next year.

Let’s not forget that Endgame had a rerelease of its own, albeit not over a decade after it originally dropped. After coming out in April, Marvel Studios returned Endgame to movie theaters in the Summer of 2019 with six minutes of extra footage, including a tribute to Stan Lee.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has only continued to grow since then, with WandaVision — the first of several MCU TV shows to air on Disney+ — becoming a massive success. It’s going to be interesting to watch Marvel compete with the Avatar movies going forward.

And now that Disney owns both properties, they’re winners either way.

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