James Cameron congratulates Avengers: Endgame for topping Avatar's all-time global box office record. For more than two decades, Cameron reigned as king of the box office, with Titanic and then Avatar rising to the #1 position on the all-time charts. In the latter's case, it grossed an astonishing $2.789 billion worldwide by the time it ended its run, a figure that appeared to be unreachable. Not even the highly-celebrated return of Star Wars in 2015 could unseat Avatar from the top spot, leading some to believe the record would never be broken.
In the decade since Avatar's release, nothing came close to even matching its total, but Endgame was an entirely different beast. Storming out of the gates to a whopping $1.5 billion in its opening weekend, Marvel's monumental cinematic event quickly established itself as the first legitimate challenger to Avatar's mark. Three months and one re-release later, Endgame eventually surpassed Avatar at the box office and currently stands at $2.790 billion worldwide. Now, Cameron tips his hat to Marvel Studios' achievement.
The official Avatar Twitter account shared a message from Cameron congratulating Endgame on beating Avatar. Endgame co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo also took to Twitter to thank Cameron for helping them fall in love with movies. You can check out the tweets in the space below:
Filmmakers acknowledging movies that broke their box office records is something of a Hollywood tradition, dating back to Steven Spielberg and George Lucas publicly congratulating each other as they passed the box office crown between each other for a period of years (Jaws, Star Wars, and E.T.). More recently, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy took to social media when Avengers: Infinity War topped Star Wars: The Force Awakens' domestic opening weekend record last year. It's nice to see Cameron, who hasn't had flattering things to say about superhero movies before, get in on the fun and pay his respects to Endgame. It's also a classy gesture by the Russos to reach out to Cameron, who continues to have an unparalleled impact on blockbuster cinema. His works are a monumental influence in the medium.
For Avatar, holding on to the crown for 10 years is a great feat on its own merits, especially considering it's an original movie that was deemed too much of a risk to be a proper commercial hit. Even with the influx of franchise reboots and sequels in the last handful of years, Avatar remained on top and looked unbeatable. As amazing it is Endgame made $2.790 billion, Marvel had to wait 11 years and 22 films to get there. Avatar made $2.789 billion in a single try. One has to wonder if Avatar 2 will make a run for the record when it opens in a couple of years. Should that happen, Disney will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Source: Avatar
