James Cameron Congratulates Avengers: Endgame After It Retakes the Box Office Record From Avatar

James Cameron has congratulated Avengers: Endgame on X after the film passed Avatar as the highest-grossing movie of all time. Cameron posted on Friday, October 16, according to Laughing Place and Cosmic Book News.

A Gesture With a Precedent

It is the third time the director of Avatar has publicly saluted the Marvel film for taking the title, according to Toy People, and the pattern is now familiar enough that Dark Horizons described it as something of a tradition when the record changes hands. The post pairs artwork of a Na'vi tribe welcoming Iron Man with the text “You are one of the people.” Cameron's accompanying message, as reported by TheWrap, congratulated Marvel and the No. 1 Avengers: Endgame: Encore for bringing moviegoers back to cinemas and was signed Jim Cameron.

The artwork carries an in-joke for Avatar fans. Disney by Mark says the first line echoes a scene in Avatar: Fire and Ash in which Miles Socorro is welcomed as a Na'vi. T-Break, summarizing IGN’s report, adds that Cameron also shared the image on Instagram and that it works as a quiet way of conceding the crown his own film held until the re-release pushed Marvel back in front.

Toy People reports that the congratulation came days after the worldwide earnings from the expanded re-release were added to the original theatrical run, which pushed the film past $2.925 billion earlier in October.

Winning by About $2 Million

The margin is thin. The re-release pushed Endgame to about $2.925 billion worldwide, ahead of Avatar's roughly $2.92 billion, per Variety and The Numbers as cited by those outlets. TechSpot puts the Marvel film’s total at $2.9255 billion, and Dark Horizons lists Avatar at $2.9237 billion, which leaves the lead at roughly $2 million, a figure World of Reel also gave. Gulf News described it as a gap of $1.8 million.

Not every outlet uses the same figure. T-Break, citing IGN and Box Office Mojo, lists Endgame at $2.938 billion against Avatar’s $2.923 billion, and notes that none of the numbers are adjusted for inflation. Reports published at different points in the run therefore show slightly different totals.

What the Encore Run Actually Did

The re-release, Avengers: Endgame: Encore, opened September 25 with $11.2 million on its first Friday from 3,060 locations, according to TheWrap. It adds a modified ending and new post-credits scenes that set up Avengers: Doomsday. Gulf News says the package includes a custom introduction, new footage and a special end tag exclusive to IMAX screenings.

Box Office Mojo figures cited by Business Today say the re-release added approximately $126 million to the worldwide total, with $36.3 million from domestic markets and $89.9 million from international territories. Gulf News reports that the Encore run was designed to build anticipation for Avengers: Doomsday, which opens in cinemas in December, and that the new footage is tied to that film.

A Crown That Keeps Changing Hands

The record has changed hands before. Endgame first passed Avatar in 2019, and Cameron posted a similar congratulation in July of that year. Avatar regained the top spot after a 2021 re-release. Disney owns both films.

Looking back at the first handover helps explain the current one. Avatar held the global title for about 10 years after its 2009 release, according to TechSpot and PhillyVoice, and Endgame overtook it in July 2019 shortly after finishing its original run at about $2.79 billion. PhillyVoice notes the film had passed Titanic for second place only ten days after its April 26 debut. Disney announced the 2019 milestone on a Saturday night, when the film stood at $2.7982 billion and was about $500,000 short, and that win was helped by a re-release with additional footage ahead of Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The Week observed at the time that it was the first time since before Titanic that the top-grossing film worldwide, unadjusted for inflation, had not been directed by Cameron. Another Cameron film still sits high on the all-time list: Gulf News notes that Avatar 2 earned $2.3 billion globally, making it the third-highest-grossing film of all time behind Avatar and Endgame.

Doomsday on the Horizon

The timing of the latest change is tied to the Marvel calendar. Khaleej Times describes the Encore release as arriving seven years after the original, and Business Today Malaysia says it returned to cinemas ahead of Avengers: Doomsday. The new post-credits material points toward that film, which Gulf News says opens in December.

Reading the Record

Box office records of this kind are measured in unadjusted dollars, a point T-Break stresses in its report. Avatar opened on December 18, 2009, according to PhillyVoice, while Endgame debuted on April 26, 2019, so the two films were released nearly a decade apart. Philstar notes that Endgame topped the charts on its initial release in 2019 before re-releases of Cameron’s film won the title back. Business Today Malaysia, citing Deadline, adds that Cameron’s film regained the top spot after a series of theatrical re-releases. Disney owns both record holders, as Gulf News points out, and the latest change came through a release built around its next Marvel film.