Avengers: Endgame Retakes Box Office Crown From Avatar (Again)

Collider reports that the back-and-forth between James Cameron and Marvel over the highest-grossing movie of all time has flipped again. Avengers: Endgame now sits at approximately $2.92 billion in lifetime worldwide ticket sales, narrowly edging out Avatar after a rerelease that Marvel called the "Encore" run.

The Encore rerelease added $36.2 million domestically and $89.8 million internationally, enough to push Endgame past Cameron's 2009 film on the unadjusted global chart. This is the third time the record has changed hands. Endgame originally took the crown from Avatar in 2019, then lost it when Cameron rereleased Avatar in China in 2021. Now Marvel has answered with its own rerelease, sweetening the deal with four minutes of new footage that connects directly to December's Avengers: Doomsday.

At this point, the crown feels like a marketing prop. Every rerelease adds just enough to tip the scales, and each studio uses the record to drum up interest in its next installment. The $2.92 billion figure is impressive, but the back-and-forth is starting to look less like a genuine box office battle and more like a scheduled press release.

Cameron can console himself with the fact that Avatar remains right behind Endgame, while Titanic still sits comfortably among the top five movies ever made. He also has three more Avatar sequels on the way, so this lead probably won't last long either.

Avengers: Endgame is playing in theaters for a limited time. If you want to see the new Doomsday teaser footage, that's the only place to find it right now.

• Avatar
• Avengers: Endgame
• box office
• James Cameron
• Marvel
• rerelease