Avatar is once again the champion of the box office. James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi epic has dethroned Avengers: Endgame to take back the crown. As reported by Deadline, Avatar now stands alone as the highest-grossing movie in history. The film previously held the title for nearly a decade, only to briefly pass the torch to Marvel’s massive blockbuster.
James Cameron’s Avatar was recently re-released in theaters in China. While the U.S. is still struggling to get the box office up and running again due to the pandemic, China has been churning out hits left and right. Avatar, over the weekend, took in just enough to take back the top spot at the global box office. The film’s total now stands at $2.802 billion, a hair over Endgame’s global total. Avatar entered the weekend less than $8 million short of the record.
“We are proud to reach this great milestone, but Jim and I are most thrilled that the film is back in theaters during these unprecedented times, and we want to thank our Chinese fans for their support. We are hard at work on the next Avatar films and look forward to sharing the continuation of this epic story for years to come,” Avatar producer Jon Landau said.
Here is the synopsis for Avatar.
“From Academy Award winning director James Cameron comes Avatar, the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of the indigenous people.”
Avatar’s global total heading into the weekend was said to be $2,798,579,794. Avengers: Endgame, meanwhile, had managed to just barely overtake it at $2,797,501,328. The finale to the first three phases of the MCU became a must-see, global pop culture event. For years, it seemed like no movie had a chance at taking down Avatar. But directors Joe and Anthony Russo, at least for a time, pulled it off. The filmmakers congratulated Cameron on Twitter.
Passing the gauntlet back to you… @JimCameron
Thanks for the beautiful art @bosslogic. pic.twitter.com/URSxUMzf8D
— Russo Brothers (@Russo_Brothers) March 13, 2021
“Passing the gauntlet back to you… @JimCameron,” the tweet reads.
“We’ve got climate change, we’ve got deforestation, our relationship with nature is more at risk than it’s ever been, and Avatar is about those things, but it also is a timeless film. 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,” Cameron said of the film recently while speaking with Change.org.
Avatar’s lead over Avengers: Endgame is likely going to widen. Avatar 2, not to mention three other sequels, are in the works. Disney will likely re-released the first movie again as the release of the sequel draws near, since it originally came out back in 2009.
Avatar 2 is set to hit theaters in December 2022.
What do you think? Does Avatar deserve the record? Would you prefer it if Endgame had stayed atop the box office? Join in on the conversation over on Facebook or Twitter!
? @MarvelStudios @Avengers https://t.co/T74gEwUWml
— James Cameron (@JimCameron) March 13, 2021
