Chances are looking mighty slim for Avengers: Endgame to beat James Cameron’s sci-fi epic, Avatar, at the global box office, even with the film’s re-release. A few weeks back, Kevin Feige announced that Endgame would return to theaters with a Stan Lee tribute, deleted scenes, and a short clip that previews Spider-Man: Far From Home at the end of the film.

Before Endgame even hit theaters, the superhero extravaganza was shattering box office records left and right, selling five times as many tickets as its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War, on Fandango. During its opening weekend alone, Endgame earned a whopping $1.2 billion worldwide, and numbers remained on a steady incline for the weeks to follow. Avatar’s run is one that astounded filmmakers as well, and many have had difficulty trying to dethrone it at the global box office. Overall, the film made $2.788 billion worldwide, surpassing Cameron’s previously well-established top box office earner, Titanic. Endgame was quick to sink Titanic at the worldwide box office, but in order to take the top spot globally, it would still need to make $38 million during its re-release.

According to Deadline, Endgame will have a difficult time hitting this mark because it’s come up, “far short of Avatar in lucrative countries outside the U.S. and China.” Essentially, “Endgame made 53% of its global gross in U.S./Canada and China, whereas those two territories only repped 34% of Avatar’s lifetime worldwide market sales.” This means that James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure covered more ground offshore, and, “China also has a 30-day play period policy on U.S. pics, and Endgame didn’t receive an extension.” Avatar’s records in various countries were also very strong, meaning the amount Endgame needs to earn in those countries to beat Avatar is enormous. It’s unlikely that Endgame will be making more in countries such as France, Japan, Germany, Russia, Spain, and Italy, because, “the film’s already played out, with screens promised to the next round of local and Hollywood fare.”

There are a variety of other factors playing into the Avatar vs. Endgame box office battle as well, such as the overwhelming excitement of 3D at the time of Avatar’s release, and how that evolved the movie-going experience. But, global box office numbers aside, Endgame still has a few records to beat domestically as well. Currently, the #1 domestic box office spot still lies in the hands of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It remains ahead of Endgame by close to $100 million, with their domestic revenues sitting at $936 million verses Endgame’s $834 million.

Whatever the outcome is of Endgame at both the domestic and international box office, it’s still a tremendous feat for Marvel that’s worth celebrating. Disney is already having a banner year, but they still have a slew of highly-anticipated upcoming releases, such as Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Lion King, Frozen 2, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December. So, even if Avengers: Endgame’s numbers fall ever-so-short of Avatar’s monumental success, at least the re-release can serve as a fun lead-in to Spider-Man: Far From Home and all of the exciting things yet to come in Phase 4 of Marvel’s cinematic slate.

Next: “Bring Back Iron Man” Shows Why Fan Petitions Are A Terrible Idea

Source: Deadline

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