Spill one for the most powerful heroes on Earth.
“Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel’s superhero of everything but the kitchen sink, is about to give up his highest grossing film title in history to “Avatar,” the previous record holder. Prior to the release of “Endgame” in April 2019, James Cameron’s groundbreaking epic sci-fi epic won the box office crown for a decade, with $ 2.7797 billion worldwide. “Avengers: Endgame” eclipsed that milestone slightly, generating $ 2.7902 billion in global ticket sales.
But on Friday, “Avatar” returned to theaters in China and raised $ 3.5 million, bringing its total revenue to the historic $ 2.7926 billion mark. After this weekend, “Avatar” is expected to take back the biggest box office prize.
What took several re-releases of “Avatar” to be achieved, “Avengers: Endgame” was able to perform in three months due to an unprecedented demand that may never be replicated. “Avengers: Endgame” was the culmination of 21 films (each of the box office giants in its own right) over 10 years. It became the unmissable cinematic event of the year, when the Avengers teamed up to take down the villain Thanos and viewers emotionally said goodbye to Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man. The comic mashup also starred Chris Evans as Captain America, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, in addition to almost all the other costumed characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe List.
The relaunch of “Avatar” in China comes at a time when the country is facing unprecedented box office demand while recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. Several films in China, including “Detective Chinatown 3” and “Oi, mama”, have already achieved blockbuster status. Meanwhile, in North America, almost no one goes to the movies and ticket sales have plummeted as Hollywood studios continue to postpone their busiest releases.
Although “Avatar” was released by 20th Century Fox, Disney now owns the property after the companies merged in 2019. With Disney’s acquisition of Fox’s film assets, the Walt Disney Company is home to eight of the top ten box office films .
With more than $ 2.5 billion in global revenue, “Avatar” and “Avengers: Endgame” are rare companies. The third highest grossing film of all time is “Titanic”, which grossed $ 2.47 billion. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Infinity War” are the fourth and fifth largest films with $ 2.068 billion and $ 2.048 billion, respectively.