Here's why Avatar's box office record won't be broken before the release of the sequel, Avatar 2. James Cameron's sci-fi movie became the highest grossing movie of all time after its 2009 release. Thanks to a wave of critical acclaim, word-of-mouth praise, and inflation from the popularity of 3D and IMAX screenings, Avatar grossed well over $2 billion, beating out Cameron's 1997 epic romantic tragedy, Titanic.
Avatar's box office record stood for most of the next decade, but it was later usurped in 2019 by Avengers: Endgame, which brought in $2.798 billion. Avatar reclaimed the throne in March 2021 by re-releasing in Chinese theaters, taking its total to over $2.8bn. With anticipation for James Cameron's Avatar sequels building, the director expressed a hope that another film would break his current record before the December 2022 release of his next installment.
It's highly unlikely, however, that Cameron will get his wish, and Avatar's record will remain in place at least until the release of the sequel. The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt box office numbers and even changed how the industry views success of its new releases. But even despite the pandemic, it takes a certain kind of movie to break the monumental record set by the current ruling champion, and no films that are planned to release before the James Cameron's Avatar 2 really fit the bill.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a disaster for the film industry. Sets had to be shut down mid-production, people could only collaborate on projects from great distances, and movie theaters locked there doors for months. Even now that things have started to resemble normality again, how people watch movies has changed significantly as companies were forced to adapt. Major production giants from Disney to Warner Brothers started premiering their movies on streaming platforms in addition to theatrical releases, meaning box office results are no longer a true indicator of how popular any given film is. For some new releases such as Dune, streaming performance is even more important than box office, clearly indicating that movie success is not measured the same way it use to be and that box-office stats may never see numbers like those of Avatar or Endgame again.
Even without the pandemic, beating Avatar in the box office would be no easy feat. Endgame achieved it, but only by serving as the culmination of an 11-year journey through modern cinema's biggest franchise. It took the MCU more than a decade and 22 movies to build the following that broke Avatar's record, and it's hard to imagine any other film or series doing it again. Nothing comparable to the caliber of project or size of fanbase that Marvel created is expected to release before Avatar 2, so James Cameron's record will likely remain.
Despite the fact that Cameron's wish for a movie to outperform Avatar will likely not be granted, the fact that he even made it speaks well of both him and the film business as a whole. For an industry ravaged by the pandemic, maintaining comradery and good will that movies still have a place in the world is just as important as adapting to the changing circumstances. Only time will tell if even Avatar 2 will be able to supplant Avatar for the box office throne, but at least the movie industry will survive.
