Apparently, being just the second-highest grossing film of all-time worldwide may not be good enough for Avengers: Endgame.
The numbers are in and they’re still rising, it seems, as Marvel’s last installment in the Infinity Stones storyline has just reached $2.67 billion. James Cameron’s Avatar is still the king with $2.78 billion, but the gap is now closing and seeing how Endgame‘s officially been in theaters for only one month, that gap could be zero, and soon.
Over the past few weeks, it’s been a roller coaster for the movie’s box office earnings, as everyone was sure it would hit number one. Then, there were worries it wouldn’t, as it was beginning to slow down. Indeed, Endgame reached $1 billion and $2 billion worldwide in its first and second weeks, respectively, while Avatar took a month and a half to hit $2 billion. Theaters will keep the movie on their screens as long as it makes money though and even four weeks into its run, the final Avengers team-up is still number three among the moneymakers. Only Aladdin and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum are beating it at the moment.
The story’s the same at the domestic box office, too. Star Wars: The Force Awakens still holds the top spot with $936.6 million, but Endgame‘s closing that gap as well and is expected to break the $800 million mark this weekend.
Who would Kevin Feige like to thank for all this money, though? Well, in a press release earlier this month, following the film hitting the $1 billion global box office mark, the president of Marvel Studios thanked the fans, saying:
“That we’ve had so many other successes in this journey leading to this unbelievable result with Avengers: Endgame has been almost entirely due to the fans around the world who have supported us through it all.”
He then went on to thank the cast and crew, and the late greats Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for their contributions to the last 11 years and 22 films, saying it wouldn’t have happened without them.
But circling back to those box office numbers, and though Avengers: Endgame is certainly slowing down a bit as the weeks go on, there’s still hope it could topple Avatar and with another solid weekend in the books, fans will continue to keep those fingers crossed.