r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • 21h ago
Article James Cameron Congratulates 'Avengers: Endgame' for Besting 'Avatar' as Biggest Movie Ever – Again
https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/james-cameron-congratulates-avengers-endgame-box-office-again/156
u/Nullhitter 21h ago
Don't worry, Avatar will get released again and this will continue until the end of time.
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u/TeutonJon78 20h ago
It's all just Disney extracting money by pitting fans against each other for "top movie".
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u/Informal_Support1934 18h ago
Yeah, why is this something people put genuinely care into. "Record for most revenue a product earns for its parent company" like it actually matters.
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u/TeutonJon78 4h ago
Because people are lonely and generally communityless so para-social relationships dominate their lives.
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u/berlinbaer 7h ago
they learned from the stan wars on twitter that these days people don't even care about quality anymore, it's more like following your favorite sports team.
like a certain singer can put out an absolute turd of a deluxe edition and their fans will still buy all four variants, just to beat out another singer on the charts.
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u/AlmightyRuler 6h ago
What if every time Cameron re-releases Avatar, Disney re-releases Endgame, just to mess with him, in a 10 year cycle, and 100 years from now, theaters release both movies back to back at Christmas as some kind of weird tradition no one remembers the origins of.
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 21h ago
Snip snap snip snap!
In all seriousness...curious where Doomsday ends up. Expectations are certainly rising and I could see it being #1 or also somehow missing 2 billion. Who knows!
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u/Torcal4 21h ago
Part of me feels like it won’t beat Endgame.
Endgame was the culmination of 11 years and the big payoff.
Doomsday is just kind of showing up after a string of mostly iffy movies. It might be very good but I don’t think it’ll be the cultural phenomenon that Endgame was.
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u/WillowSmithsBFF 21h ago
Absolutely no way it beats Endgame. Doubt it beats infinity war either. The hype for doomsday just isn’t there like it was for IW/EG.
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u/Howdareme9 21h ago
Nobody expected spiderman to do as well as it did. You’ll be surprised
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u/gizmoglitch 21h ago
Completely different situation. Spidey lives within the MCU while being its own thing. The new BND movie was a payoff to the setup of previous one, and NWH was a payoff to a combination of Tom/Tobey/Andrew's Spidey arcs. There's a generational build up there.
Doomsday by comparison to Infinity/End Game and Tom's Spider-Man movies isn't coming from the same place. It'll still be a financial success, but that's because they're throwing trucks of cash and relying on nostalgia to push their way to the front.
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u/kyuubikid213 20h ago
but that's because they're throwing trucks of cash and relying on nostalgia to push their way to the front.
An interesting sentence to write after saying NWH was a payoff of Tobey and Andrew's Spidey arcs.
Relying on nostalgia seems to be a path to success.
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u/SDRPGLVR 6h ago
Didn't they? Spider-Man is evergreen, like Batman, and the hype leading up to that movie was really strong. The only people I saw at least say they didn't think people were excited were the usual grifter types who are still mad that MJ isn't white.
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u/OogieBoogieJr 21h ago
Remember, kids: If a Redditor says it, you know it’s going to be wrong in spectacular fashion
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u/GillGruntFan53 21h ago
Currently tracking to be the first $400 million domestic opening as its floor, but sure
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u/Burgoonius 21h ago
Also broke presale records I thjnk - I literally can’t even get tickets for the first week
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u/cire1184 20h ago
They even got 2 am showings and they are all pretty much sold out except the front row in the Dolby screen near me
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u/Royal-Importance7051 19h ago
If it does open with $400 million on the exact same day that The Force Awakens opened with $250 million 11 years ago, 1.1 billion domestic is basically the floor.
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 21h ago
Perhaps not - but then again this is the first Avengers film (not counting Thunderbolts) in 7 years. First time with Cap. Seeing X-Men again. And a lot of other crazy stuff if leaks are true.
So while it doesn't have the same build-up, I can certainly see it garnering the same type of excitement
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u/AdFluffy3371 20h ago
Brand new day just grossed $500m over Infinity War, the people still crave superhero movies. It will certainly surpass $2b.
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u/GipsyDangerV1 2h ago
I think an aspect your perspective is missing is the fact that doomsday is almost being made to act as a new jumping on point for people who have been checked out because of those mostly iffy movies, and considering the last three theatrical releases from the MCU were actually good movies and well received, that just adds to that excitement to potentially come back in here.
It seems Marvel Studios are doing the exact same thing that the actual comics the movies are based off do every 10 years or so, which is to do a big crossover / universe defining and changing storyline that acts as a new jumping on point for people who haven't really been into the storylines or current continuity for a while.
That aspect makes me think that doomsday is going to overperform and be remarkably similar to endgame box office.
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u/FourSes 21h ago
Check r/boxoffice. With its presales, Doomsday could be the worst movie ever and still make $2 billion.
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u/MawsonAntarctica 6h ago
That’s where I’m at, it can be a bunch of fan bait garbage and make all the money in the world. Given this over Dune, I’ll see Dune opening day and wait til after Christmas for Doomsday,
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u/DiscountWorried 21h ago
Prob will end up on no. 1 anyway when they re release it before secret wars
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u/superspicycurry37 21h ago
It will have an extremely big opening no matter what, pre sale tickets can already tell you that. Whether it maintains legs will have to be determined by whether it gets good word of mouth and convince those who fully jumped off the MCU to get back on for another ride.
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u/ohheyisayokay 3h ago
I dunno. Personal bias I suppose, but I feel like there's just less interest this time. I was definitely way more pumped on Marvel when Endgame came out the first time than I am now.
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u/Karna1394 20h ago
Avatar in 2009/10, being an unknown and brand new franchise having zero connection with any book/culture/history/event, sweeping the box office and reaching the top spot powered by word of mouth was insane.
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u/portal23 13h ago
If I remember correctly, it also had to do witj being one of the first big 3D movies in theatre when the hype around 3D was the biggest.
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u/IWentToJellySchool 11h ago
think it was Avatar what pushed 3d to its hype. It was the new cool thing. Hated watching movies at that time. You can tell some scenes were shot a certain way just to push the 3d gimmick
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u/rcanhestro 10h ago
it was also the first time (in a big movie) that 3D was used perfectly, instead of just being a "throw shit at the screen to scare people" gimmick.
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u/Optimus_Prime_Day 19h ago
Except it came from a very well known director with a history of great movies, so there's that setup for it.
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u/TylerBourbon 21h ago edited 59m ago
this isn't in defense of Avatar, but for a long time I've thought it is rather BS to include "rerelease" box office as a way to bump it up a films numbers, because it doesn't really differentiate from when the film was initially released, especially if it's been altered for the rerelease.
Though at the same time I would really love it if film studios would regularly rerelease movies or run them for longer so it does help to show "hey your film can still make money" as an incentive to rerelease older movies.
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 21h ago
this isn't in defense of Avatar, but for a long time I've thought it is rather BS to include "release" box office as a way to bump it up a films numbers
To be fair, a lot of films do this and it has affected a lot of film's numbers too - Jurassic Park and Philosopher's Stone got over a billion with it. Titanic got over 2 billion with it. So it's certainly not just an Avatar or Endgame thing.
But yes I want more films re-released. I'll always take seeing a film again in theaters than on the couch at home.
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u/Seinfeel 20h ago edited 20h ago
Don’t forget Morbius, made an extra ten dollars.
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u/Sitherio 18h ago
The Thing was amazing in theaters again. There is an experience to a theater that not even home can replicate. But you have to be motivated to see it that way.
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u/SpikeKowalski 15h ago
Yup. I keep my ears open for re-releases (if a movie is getting a 4k release it's usually a good time to check as they'll put it in the theaters to advertise the hone release) because certain movies just sing on the big screen.
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u/Icy_Smoke_733 15h ago
Agreed, even really old movies like Jaws, Gone With The Wind, The Exorcist, and Star Wars have had multiple re-releases, so this isn't some new gimmick. Half of GWtW's gross came from re-releases over like 40 years, and that is the highest grossing film ever, adjusted for inflation.
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u/Sparrowsabre7 15h ago
In 2025 the only films I saw in the cinema wee re-releases 😅 Revenge of the Sith and Perfect Blue
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u/HydroStanley 14h ago
I forgot the site, but some guy tried to figure out what movie was the biggest ever in the first run only (no re-release numbers), accounting for inflation, population growth, AND moviegoing trends.
His analysis found The Sound of Music as the biggest first run of all time.
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u/SuspiciousToast27 13h ago
TIL The Sound of Music during its original theatrical release was in theatres for over 4.5 years straight.
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u/West_Conclusion_1239 11h ago
Pretty sure Gone With The Wind is unbeatable.
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u/SuspiciousToast27 8h ago
Their data is excluding rereleases. Gone With The Wind's initial release was smaller, but it was rereleased 8 times from the 1940s to 1990s during which it made an extra $2.8 billion. The studio refused to release a home media version of it until 1985 so theatres was the only way to see it.
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u/GiantsRTheBest2 2h ago
Before the 70’s movies were like traveling shows. They’d be at certain numbers of movie theaters and then move on to new ones. It’s very possible it was due to a restriction on the amount of film that each could have access to. So all the older movies would be very hard to compare initial box office, because it might have taken a film a couple of years to make its way through the US.
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u/CanExplainThings 17h ago
I would love a re release of Morbius.
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u/Zombiekiller414 6h ago
So Avatar's 5 re releases shouldn't count either? I've never got this logic, unless you're getting an entirely different movie, (something similar to snyders justice league) the box office absolutely should count. The same movie with extra content added at the end is still the same movie. Movies through out history have had re releases. I think its a good thing for fans and cinema in general. With that being said stuff like the morbius re release should never have happened. Lol
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u/TylerBourbon 1h ago
I get what you're saying. I suppose I see it like how we differentiate between foreign and domestic gross. Yes we combine the 2 eventually, but we still make a point of tracking the 2 independently. I'm a 1000% behind releasing movies, but I think we should differentiate between gross that is from a release, for the same reason we don't count home sales of digital and physical releases with a films theatrical gross.
One could conceivably rerelease a mediocre film for 50 years and it could potentially be crowned the highest grossing film of all time simply by virtue of being in rereleased in theaters regularly for multiple decades.
And it just seems a bit disingenuous to me in talking about a films success.
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u/Zombiekiller414 39m ago
I do see your point there with the bad movies. But to go with that point, i do think the audience is smart enough not to go for that. Example would be sony re releasing Morbius 🤣 😂 💀. Encores personal gross domestic and worldwide are still tallied as well. I think its at 40 million DOM and 100 million worldwide on its own. But yea i do see where you're going.
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u/newbrevity 18h ago
So many movies are best experienced on the big screen. Some things that no home theater can reproduce unless it's a literal theater. It's money on the table for the studios and the people who made the film who could stand to receive royalties.
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u/cardinalkgb 19h ago
You do realize that Avatar re-released multiple times since Endgame beat it the first time, right?
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u/TylerBourbon 18h ago
Oh I'm aware, hence why I said it's not a defense of Avatar. It really doesn't matter which movie it is, it just seems a bit disingenuous to add ticket sales from a rerelease to it's box office total overall to say it's not the high grossing movie of all time. We do separate things already like Domestic vs Foreign box office. Re-releases should get their own category.
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u/BangerBeanzandMash 9h ago
This first sentence doesn’t even make sense but has 25 upvotes
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u/AnonymouselyMoosed 7h ago
I mean it’s slightly poorly worded but it absolutely makes sense. Not sure how you don’t know the point it’s making.
Also since you’re being pedantic - the first sentence didn’t get 25 upvotes, the entire comment (and the point it is communicating) did.
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u/Jason-Smith168498 9h ago
I understood it just fine. What part doesn't make sense to you?
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u/BangerBeanzandMash 9h ago
It’s horrible grammar and sentence structure. Reddit used to have standards. I guess people are just cool with getting the vibe of a comment these days.
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u/johnnySix 8h ago
When did Reddit have standards?
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u/BangerBeanzandMash 7h ago
Fair point. But you guys are being purposefully obtuse and ignoring that shitty sentence
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u/JasonFenixx 8h ago
The purpose of language is for communication and the conveyance of information.
You're the only one struggling to get the info
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u/BangerBeanzandMash 8h ago
It’s a horrible, confusing sentence.
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u/JasonFenixx 8h ago
Yet I, Mr Smith and at least 25 other people had no problem understanding it
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u/BangerBeanzandMash 7h ago
Tik tok brains I guess 🤷🏻♂️
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u/kingcalifornia 5h ago
People are coming after you! They’re so sensitive. It’s clear that sentence is poorly constructed but that doesn’t mean it’s a personal attack against OP.
Jesus Christ people grow the fuck up.
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u/Relevant-Physics432 18h ago
These box office numbers don't really account for ticket prices and inflation so honestly it's a bit irrelevant
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u/fdbryant3 17h ago
Yeah, I don't like that we only talk about the lifetime BO totals. It sorta makes sense since on the balance sheet they are going to line item and just look at the total. But I feel there should be space to account for the movie that makes the most in its original run.
As it is we are probably just going to be watching Avatar and Endgame pass the title back and forth for the next 100 years.
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u/irwinner 8h ago
James Cameron doesn't do what James Cameron does for James Cameron; James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron is James Cameron!
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u/pizzacrys 21h ago
James Cameron really has two of the biggest movies ever and still treats the box office like friendly competition.
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u/TheUmbrellaMan1 19h ago
He did say back in 2019 that not having the no.1 box office movie lifts a lot of pressure. He thought it was ridiculous that Titanic held the record for as long as it did. Yeah, it's nice to have the no.1 movie but he's not going to lose his sleep over a record being broken.
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u/CantAffordzUsername 21h ago
This all started back when George Lucas and Steven Spielberg started a famous tradition of taking out full-page magazine ads to congratulate each other when one of their films broke the other's box office record.
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u/OrphanintheWind 18h ago
Until Titanic Unleashed is released in a few years. This new experience will flood the audience with actual water. Pre-Purchase tickets now!!
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u/weinertorn 15h ago
James Cameron doesn't do what James Cameron does for James Cameron; James Cameron does what James Cameron does because James Cameron is James Cameron
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u/GoldXP 20h ago
Adjusted for inflation, Avatar is the second highest grossing movie of all time and Endgame is the fifth
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u/cardinalkgb 19h ago
What’s first?
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u/SabresFanWC 18h ago
In today's money, Gone With the Wind made around $4.4 billion at the box office. It's insane.
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u/ExILoveEmiliaAndRem 15h ago
Happens when a movie is in theaters for years instead of months.
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u/SabresFanWC 10h ago
Which is a reflection of how popular it was. Even considering TV and home releases weren't available at the time, Gone With the Wind's theatrical run was unusual.
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u/ohnohelpwhereamI 18h ago
If he had said 'can we fucking stop this shit' instead I would have so much respect for him.
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u/garygalah 17h ago
This feels like the equivalent of political opponents calling eachother after a race lol
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u/TheMundar 16h ago
I won't care until they use seats sold instead of dollars and even then I won't care very much.
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u/_Middlefinger_ 14h ago
Re-releases should only count if they are identical. If they are edits they are a separate movie.
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u/tayroc122 13h ago
'Biggest' here meaning simply in terms of extraction of surplus value in profit. Not in terms of quality, long term cultural impact, or any other potential value added.
I like Endgame and even Cameron, but this is ridiculous, especially in an economic climate where the majority of people are hurting.
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u/ItssHarrison 5h ago
Yeah I’m sick of them jerking eachother off under the Disney tent when they rerelease the same movies once a year
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u/towneetowne 21h ago
" ... the highest-grossing movie of all time with a cumulative $2.9 million at the box office thanks to its “Encore” re-release in September."
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u/Cloud_N0ne 20h ago
Nah, this is bullshit. Re-releasing the movie to juice the numbers is blatant cheating.
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u/Antrikshy 16h ago
Since these numbers are generally not adjusted for inflation, it's all to be taken with a grain of salt anyway.
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u/Fair-Degree-2200 9h ago
If people want to re-watch (or watch for the first time) a movie, how is that cheating?
In fact I'm a HUGE fan of re-releasing great movies, I don't know why they don't do it more often.
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u/johnnySix 8h ago
Endgame passed avatar BO during initial release. Avatar rereleased a couple years ago and passed endgame. Now endgame has rereleased and has passed avatar again. It’s like checkers. King me!
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u/cardinalkgb 19h ago
Cheating how? Endgame was number one when its run ended and only dropped to number two because Cameron rereleased Avatar multiple times.
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u/MasterKingdomKey 18h ago
Cheating on both sides.
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u/cardinalkgb 18h ago
If you go by the original gross from the end of their first run, Endgame is number 1.
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u/G1ygas 8h ago
Movies get rereleased all the time, what’s so different about Endgame or Avatar being rereleased to let people see them in theaters and make more money compared to rereleasing something like Pan’s Labyrinth (which was in theaters again last week) to let people see it again in theaters and make more money?
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u/xVIRIDISx 6h ago
“Blatant cheating” lmfao it’s an artificial contest that has literally no meaning whatsoever
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u/sobi-one 7h ago
Are you suggesting people didn’t buy tickets to go to these movies?
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u/EDDsoFRESH 6h ago
No they said “Nah, this is bullshit. Re-releasing the movie to juice the numbers is blatant cheating.” Hope that clears things up.
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u/Gapinthesidewalk 21h ago
I want James Cameron to be petty and re-release Avatar into theaters with 4 minutes of extra footage.
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u/TeutonJon78 20h ago
He could A1 had plenty of footage put back in the directors cut and even more deleted scenes beyond that.
Jake's psychedelic worm scene makes his whole "now I'm one of the people" make sense. It was cut (probably rightfully so) because it foreshadows a later reveal.
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21h ago
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 21h ago edited 21h ago
This whole "adjusted for inflation" thing is such a weird phenomenon that's come out recently. I've been following the box office for nearly 15 years, and yet never seen more people try to discredit films because of "inflation" than I have now.
EDIT: I realize my comment may have been confusing - I know "adjusted for inflation" is not a new measure, I've been around for awhile and follow this all very intently. I meant more the people using "adjusted for inflation" as a way to discredit newer films for their high grosses. Which I understand the prior commenter is saying he isn't doing, but after all the discussion around BND I'm wary of anyone who brings it up in a forum like this.
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u/Catswagger11 21h ago
It’s not discrediting so much as addressing reality, no?
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 21h ago
Not really - it's simplifying something that is very complex and goes beyond just "inflation" especially when you consider the constant re-releases, fluctuation between exchange rates over the years in different nations, the availability of home media, and a whole lot of other factors that ultimately affect the box office. But also, it's just a really disingenuous and cheap talking point that feels like peak Reddit kind of behavior.
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u/32BitBrit 21h ago edited 21h ago
My favourite film is ‘The Pursuit for Lowest Common Denominator’ so this news really tickles my giblets
Edit: downvoted without comment? Speaks volumes x
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u/hiptones 21h ago
Until Avatar comes back to theaters in 2029 to celebrate the 20th anniversary... and 2034 for the 25th anniversary... and 2039...