‘Avengers: Endgame’ Overtakes ‘Avatar’ as Highest-Grossing Movie in History With $2.925 Billion After ‘Encore’ Re-Release

“Avengers: Endgame” is once again the highest-grossing movie in box office history, reclaiming the title from “Avatar.” Two blockbusters have passed the crown back and forth over the years as they’ve returned to theaters for various engagements.

With Disney’s recent “Avengers: Endgame” theatrical re-release, the 2019 superhero epic has grossed $2.925 billion worldwide. That’s just above 2009’s “Avatar,” which has generated $2.923 billion globally after five re-releases.

“Avatar” spent a decade as the biggest release ever until “Avengers: Endgame” overtook the record in 2019 during its initial run on the big screen. “Endgame” dropped to No. 2 on all-time charts in 2021 when “Avatar” returned to theaters in advance of 2021’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Five years later, and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have triumphed over the Na’vi again.

Disney is popping Champagne no matter which big-screen behemoth claims the No. 1 spot. “Avatar” was released by 20th Century Fox, which Disney now owns after the companies merged in 2019. With Fox’s film assets, Disney is responsible for seven of the 10 highest grossing movies, including “”Avatar: The Way of Water” ($2.33 billion), “Titanic” ($2.26 billion) and “Avengers: Infinity War” ($2.05 billion).

Disney and Marvel reissued “Avengers: Endgame” to generate excitement for “Avengers: Doomsday,” which debuts in December. “Avengers: Endgame” was notable as the culmination of 21 movies (many of them blockbusters in their own right) over 10 years and brought together just about every comic book star, from Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America) and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) to Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) and Anthony Mackie (Falcon).

Marvel, after an uneven post-pandemic stretch, is reuniting just about every superhero in the galaxy in “Doomsday” for the first time since “Endgame.” The re-release of “Endgame” has generated more than $126 million worldwide — and the turnout has theater owners buzzing for “Doomsday,” which is expected to be one of the year’s biggest movies. Anthony and Joe Russo returned to direct “Avengers: Doomsday,” the 39th installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU has long been the most commercially successful film franchise in history. After this summer’s juggernaut “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” climbed to $2.5 billion and counting, the sprawling property has generated a combined $35.07 billion across all movies.