'Avengers: Endgame' Probably Won't Top 'Avatar,' And That's Good For Disney!! The Impossible is POSSIBLE!!!

'Avengers: Endgame' Probably Won't Top 'Avatar,' And That's Good For Disney

As initially predicted/presumed, the competition (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum, Aladdin, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, etc.) was too much for Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. With a $7.8 million domestic weekend (-55% from last weekend) and $8.6 million overseas for a $16.4 million global frame, the MCU sequel has earned an absurd $815.5 million domestic, $1.8977 billion overseas and $2.7132 billion worldwide. That’s a ridiculous total by every measure except for one. Barring a re-release or a miracle, it won’t dethrone Avatar as the biggest grosser overseas ($2.029 billion) or worldwide ($2.788 billion).

This isn’t the biggest problem in the world for any movie. Presuming a domestic finish of $850 million, an overseas finish (including $629.1 million in China) of $1.916 billion and a global cume of $2.766 billion, Avengers: Endgame will still be among the biggest (sans inflation) grossers ever. It’s the biggest Hollywood import in China and the third-biggest grosser there behind The Wandering Earth ($699 million) and Wolf Warrior 2 ($854 million). It’s the second-biggest grosser in North America (behind Walt Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens), overseas (behind Fox’s Avatar) and worldwide (behind Fox’s Avatar).

Yes, those three non-Chinese titles are now all under the Disney umbrella. Since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 and subsequently restarted the Star Wars franchise, they have earned $4.8497 billion over four movies. Since Disney bought Marvel in 2009, they have helped the MCU become the dominant franchise in Hollywood, if not Hollywood history, earning $21.3 billion over 22 movies including $1.81979 billion just since Disney took over (not counting Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming). And since they bought Fox just this year, whatever does or doesn’t happen with the Avatar series will be Disney’s triumph or tragedy.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I’m amused to see MCU fans heavily invested in seeing their blockbuster Disney release dethrone another big movie that is now also a Disney property. This is not unlike modern sports fandom, where fans presume a certain ownership of their favorite franchise even though they have no actual investment in the outcome. Heck, at least with sports teams, there is a potential for localized economic benefits if your hometown team has a winning season. But your local restaurants don’t get a boost when Captain Marvel out-grosses Wonder Woman.

If you’re #TeamAvatar, there’s the shear miracle, especially ten years later, of an original, built-from-scratch auteur-driven action-adventure fantasy existing as the biggest grossing movie of all time amid IP and nostalgia-skewing mega-movies. And, yes, it’s still a damn good movie. If you’re #TeamAvengers, there’s that entire cinematic universe succeeded at least partially through a consistent quality. Endgame was the culmination of a saga that flourished due to creative teams making consistently smart decisions in regard to casting, character-focused narratives and genre appropriation. Simply put, Avatar is the first Star Wars while Endgame is the last Harry Potter movie.