Avengers: Endgame Reclaims the All-Time Box Office Record From Avatar
Avengers: Endgame is once again the highest-grossing film of all time. The 2019 Marvel Studios blockbuster has pulled back ahead of James Cameron’s Avatar at the worldwide box office, with multiple trade outlets reporting the flip over the past day. The push came from Endgame’s theatrical re-release, subtitled Encore, which Gamersuniverse covered when it topped a crowded weekend box office chart back in late September.
Endgame Edges Past Avatar by a Few Million Dollars
Reports agree on the broad strokes even where exact decimals differ slightly from outlet to outlet: both films now sit at roughly $2.9 billion worldwide, with Endgame narrowly back in front after Avatar had held the top spot since reclaiming it from Endgame through a theatrical re-release of its own back in 2021. The Encore re-release’s opening weekend, which Gamersuniverse reported on at the time, brought in an estimated $26 million domestically and around $86 million worldwide once international engagements were counted, enough on its own to close most of the gap between the two films.
The record swap is tied directly to Avengers: Doomsday, which arrives in theaters on December 18, 2026.
An Encore Built as a Bridge to Doomsday
Encore was never just a nostalgia lap. Prints carried new footage woven into and after the credits that nudges the story toward Doomsday, including a destabilized timeline for Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, the Time Variance Authority noticing parallel worlds colliding, and Bruce Banner confronted in a bunker in a scene that ends with him transforming into the Hulk. Co-director Joe Russo described the re-release as “a critical companion story” for the coming film.
What Comes Next
Avengers: Doomsday still has more than two months to go before its December 18 release, and it’s shaping up to be the biggest test yet of whether that Encore investment pays off. Gamersuniverse has a full MCU watch order guide for anyone catching up beforehand, and you can revisit our coverage of Encore’s opening weekend for how the re-release performed against the rest of that frame. Whether Avatar gets a re-release of its own to answer back is an open question, but for now, the record belongs to the Avengers again.
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Picture Source: Marvel Studios
