Following suspicions over Avatar becoming the world's highest-grossing movie of all time again, Avatar has indeed become the world's highest-grossing movie of all time once more. James Cameron's 2009 Box Office hit has wrested the honor back from Avengers: Endgame on the back of a re-release in China.
Deadline has reported confirmation from Disney on the above. Disney now owns rights to the film, having completed an acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, and the company has announced that the first two days of the reopening (starting Friday) have prompted an additional $12.3 million in revenue, leading to a total $2.802 billion. That figure trumps Endgame's $2.797 billion.
Avatar became the highest-grossing movie in history back in 2010, usurping Cameron's Titanic film from 1997. It stayed at No.1 until 2019, when Avengers: Endgame climbed to the top, but is now back after reopening in China this month.
“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," producer Jon Landau said on the weekend. "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.”
Marvel Studios and the Russo brothers have congratulated Cameron and crew for Avatar's becoming the world's biggest hit again while Zoe Saldana, who features in both films, took to Instagram to laud the success.
"Biggest Congrats to @avatar for becoming, once again, the number 1 movie of all time," Saldana wrote. "China, we owe you one! To know that I am a part of “The Two Biggest Movies Of All Time” is humbling to say the least. To all my fans and fans of @avatar and @avengers #avengersendgame Thank You! Gracias! Grazie!"
“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," Cameron told China.org last week, pointing to the movie's retained relevance. "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 has also been busy with the film's upcoming sequels, the first of which is set for December 16, 2022. Part three should follow on December 4, 2024, part four on December 18, 2026, and part five on December 22, 2028.
It's worth noting that, while Avatar has been re-released a few times since its initial run, Endgame brought in all of its money in 2019.
Source: Deadline