James Cameron marked the end of Avatar's reign at the top of the all-time box office chart on Friday, sharing custom crossover artwork that congratulates Marvel as Avengers: Endgame takes back the crown. The handover came courtesy of Avengers: Endgame: Encore, the extended re-release that pushed the Marvel film's lifetime gross past Cameron's 2009 epic.
The artwork shows Iron Man standing in the jungles of Pandora, surrounded by Na'vi who place their hands on him in welcome. Text across the image reads, "You are one of the People," followed by Cameron's message: "Congratulations to Marvel and the #1 Avengers: Endgame: Encore for bringing moviegoers to the cinemas!" The post carries no caption beyond the artwork itself, letting the image deliver the concession.
A Record Decided by a Re-Release
Disney's figures put Avengers: Endgame at roughly $2.9255 billion worldwide, edging past Avatar's $2.9237 billion to reclaim the top spot. The margin between the two films is razor-thin, at under $2 million, after the Encore run added an estimated $126 million to Endgame's lifetime total.
The Encore re-release opened in cinemas on September 25 with an estimated $86 million worldwide weekend, carrying four minutes of new footage designed to link the film directly to December's Avengers: Doomsday. That new material gave Marvel fans a reason to return, and the steady weeks since have carried Endgame back over a record it first won seven years ago.
The Crown Changes Hands Again
Endgame first passed Avatar during its original 2019 run, ending the Na'vi's decade-long hold on the record, and Cameron congratulated Marvel then as well. Avatar reclaimed the title in 2021, when a re-release in China pushed it back in front, and it held the crown for more than five years until the Encore run flipped the order once more.
The congratulatory artwork continues a Hollywood tradition that stretches back to Steven Spielberg congratulating George Lucas when Star Wars overtook Jaws in the late 1970s. Cameron has now played both sides of the ritual, sending the artwork in 2019, receiving Marvel's congratulations in 2021, and sending it again this week.
Cameron is Already Eyeing 2029
Cameron's concession came with a challenge attached, as the caption shared alongside the artwork on his Instagram added a warning for Marvel. "Until 2029 and the Avatar 20th Anniversary release reclaims the title yet again," he wrote, pointing to a planned anniversary return for his 2009 film.
That rematch would land in a crowded year for Pandora, with the fourth Avatar film currently lined up for December 21, 2029. Whether an anniversary re-release can generate the kind of run Encore just produced is an open question, but Cameron has now publicly circled the date.
For now, the crown belongs to Marvel again, and the two highest-grossing films in history sit under the same Disney roof. Avengers: Doomsday arrives in December with its own box office ambitions, and the next chapter of the rivalry is already on the calendar.
