Director James Cameron may no longer be the reigning box office champion, but at least he’s gracious about passing the baton.
Over the weekend, “Avengers: Endgame” officially dethroned “Avatar” to become the biggest movie in history. For a decade, Cameron’s dazzling sci-fi epic held the top spot with $2.7897 billion in global ticket sales, but Disney and Marvel’s superhero mashup inched by with $2.7902 billion to claim the throne.
“Oel natie kameie, I see you Marvel,” Cameron wrote Monday morning on Twitter along with an image of Iron-Man surrounded by Pandoran woodsprite seeds. “Congratulations to ‘Avengers: Endgame’ on becoming the new box-office king.”
Earlier this year, Cameron saluted “Endgame” for surpassing “Titanic” as the second-biggest movie of all time. “An iceberg sank the real Titanic. It took the Avengers to sink my Titanic,” he joked.
“Avengers: Endgame” set numerous box office benchmarks since launching in April. It holds the record for the biggest opening weekend globally ($1.2 billion), domestically ($357 million) and internationally ($866 million). The superhero tentpole’s North American tally currently sits at $853 million, along with $1.9 billion overseas.
Only time will tell if one of Cameron’s four “Avatar” sequels will be able to best “Avengers: Endgame.” The first follow-up is set to hit theaters Dec. 17, 2021.