After months of waiting to see if it would happen, the Marvel Studios juggernaut Avengers: Endgame has finally managed to surpass the massive box office record set by James Cameron’s Avatar nearly a decade ago. According to The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige broke the news during the studio’s panel at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday.
“Thanks to you, Avengers: Endgame is the biggest film of all-time,” he told the crowd. Later, in an official statement, Disney’s Alan Horn offered “a huge congratulations to the Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios teams, and thank you to the fans around the world who lifted Avengers: Endgame to these historic heights.” As for the actual numbers behind Feige and Horn’s sentiments, here’s what we know.
Last weekend, Endgame trailed Avatar‘s record as the highest-grossing film in the global box office (sans any adjustments to account for inflation) by $7 million. As of this Friday, the end of Marvel Studios’ so-called “Infinity Saga” was only about $500,000 behind Cameron’s fantasy sci-fi film with a total global box office of $2.7892 billion. (Avatar‘s record sits at $2.7897 billion.) Endgame is expected to make up for this “small” gap, and then some, by the end of the weekend.
Then again, with Disney’s purchasing of Fox’s film catalog and studios, Avatar and Avengers now fall under the same corporate roof. So, toss in the fact that The Lion King dominated this weekend’s box office and it seems like Micky Mouse and friends don’t really have too much (or any) competition to worry about anymore.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline)