James Cameron has congratulated Marvel after Avengers: Endgame overtook Avatar to become the highest grossing film of all time.
Endgame reached the epic milestone on Saturday (July 20), just under three months after its release on April 25.
Marvel and Disney announced the news at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, revealing the hugely popular movie had passed the $2.788 billion global gross of Avatar. After raking in $1.223 billion in its opening weekend, it was a safe bet Endgame would take the title.
The numbers soared thanks to a rerelease of the film around the July 4 weekend which put Endgame back in 2,000 theatres, as well as the totting up of overseas grosses, a huge over-performance in China, and 10 years of hard work by Marvel.
It’s probably a sad event for all those who helped bring Avatar to life but considering they’ve been sitting at the top of the box office for the past 10 years I think it’s safe to say they had a good run.
Avatar writer Cameron was gracious about losing the title as he took to Twitter to congratulate the new leaders. The film’s official Twitter account shared a movie poster-style image of Iron Man surrounded by woodsprites; seeds from the Tree of Souls which lives on Pandora in Cameron’s film.
The image was accompanied by the words ‘oel ngati kameie’, which Avatar fans will know to means ‘I see you’ in English.
The message continued:
I see you, Marvel.
Congratulations to Avengers Endgame on becoming the new box-office king.
Jim Cameron
Cameron’s post followed the tradition of movie giants who honour the accomplishments of their competitors by creating cross-over movie posters.
According to Business Insider, the tradition started in the 1970s when Steven Spielberg took out a full-page ad in Variety magazine to congratulate George Lucas’ Star Wars on beating Jaws at the box office.
It’s not the first time Cameron has had to hand over a title to Marvel; earlier this year he congratulated the studio for ‘sinking’ his 1997 film Titanic.
Check out some congratulatory movie posters here:
The posters are certainly a touching way to pass the torch!
Who knows, Cameron might be able to steal his crown back in future as he’s currently working on a whole host of Avatar films.
We’ll have to wait and see if any of those can beat Endgame but at least Marvel can revel in their accomplishment for the time being!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.