‘Avengers: Endgame’ Just Snatched the Highest-Grossing Movie Title Back From ‘Avatar’
A $126 million USD re-release ahead of ‘Doomsday’ reopens one of Hollywood’s longest-running record battles.
Summary
'Avengers: Endgame' is back at No. 1 on the all-time worldwide box office chart with $2.925 billion USD, edging out Avatar's $2.923 billion USD
Disney's theatrical re-release added more than $126 million USD to the 2019 film's total
The comeback works as a lead-in to 'Avengers: Doomsday,' the next all-hands Marvel event, arriving in December
Avengers: Endgame has once again become the highest-grossing film ever made, overtaking Avatar after Disney brought the 2019 superhero finale back to theaters. Its worldwide total now stands at $2.925 billion USD, just ahead of the $2.923 billion USD James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi epic has earned across its original run and five re-releases.
The margin is very thin. Only about $2 million USD separates the two films, less than 0.1% of either total. The re-release did more than enough work: it earned over $126 million USD worldwide, roughly 60 times the final gap between them. Avatar, by comparison, built its total over five separate trips back to theaters.
The record has changed hands several times. Avatar held the top spot for a full decade before Endgame passed it during its original 2019 theatrical run. Avatar reclaimed the crown in 2021 with another theatrical reissue, a run centered on China, and its sequel Avatar: The Way of Water followed in December 2022. Five years after losing it, Endgame is back in first.
Whichever film holds the record, Disney benefits. Avatar came from 20th Century Fox, which Disney absorbed in its 2019 merger. With that catalog, the studio now controls seven of the 10 biggest films of all time. Beyond the two leaders, that list includes Avatar: The Way of Water at $2.33 billion USD, Titanic at $2.26 billion USD and Avengers: Infinity War at $2.05 billion USD.
Endgame‘s staying power is tied to what it represented. The film closed out a 21-movie, 10-year storyline and gathered nearly the entire Marvel roster on screen. That cast included Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, Chris Evans’ Captain America and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, alongside Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther and Anthony Mackie’s Falcon.
That ensemble model is now returning. Disney and Marvel reissued Endgame to build anticipation for Avengers: Doomsday, which brings almost every hero back together for the first time since 2019. Anthony and Joe Russo, the directors behind Endgame, are back for the franchise’s 39th film, and exhibitors expect it to rank among the year’s top earners. Marvel’s numbers already look strong: this summer’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day has passed $2.5 billion USD, pushing the MCU’s combined global box office to $35.07 billion USD, the highest of any film franchise.
