‘Avengers: Endgame’ Reclaims the All-Time Box Office Crown

Avengers: Endgame has reclaimed the title of the highest-grossing film in history, edging past Avatar after a rerelease that added new material to the 2019 blockbuster. The Walt Disney Company said on October 4, 2026, that the film now stands at an estimated $2.9255 billion worldwide, just ahead of Avatar’s $2.9237 billion.

The rerelease, billed as Avengers: Endgame: Encore, added four new post-credits scenes to the film. After a second weekend in theaters, the added ticket sales were enough to move Endgame back to the top of the all-time chart, according to the studio and reporting by Euronews. The two films have traded the record since 2019, when Endgame first dethroned Avatar, before a 2022 rerelease of Avatar allowed James Cameron’s film to retake the lead in the run-up to its sequel.

Disney on both sides of the ledger

Whichever film sits on top, the common thread is Disney, which owns both Marvel Studios and the Avatar franchise. The studio noted that it is responsible for seven of the ten highest-grossing films of all time. Marvel’s slate alone has generated more than $35 billion worldwide across 38 theatrical releases, making the Marvel Cinematic Universe the most successful film franchise to date.

The rerelease also served as a lead-in to the next Marvel event film, Avengers: Doomsday, which is set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026. That film is expected to bring together characters from across the Marvel lineup, and the studio has used the Endgame rerelease to put the earlier film, and its record, back in the public conversation.

Some fans cry foul

Not everyone welcomed the move. Some viewers criticized the decision to add new footage and rerelease the film, arguing that it amounted to rewriting or retconning the original’s ending to fit the next chapter of the story. Others described the strategy as a kind of box-office gamesmanship, since a rerelease can nudge a total past a rival without a new film being made.

Studio rereleases are a long-standing practice, and Cameron’s own films have benefited from them; Avatar’s 2022 run is what returned it to the top in the first place. Cameron congratulated Marvel when Endgame first took the record in 2019, and the back-and-forth between the two films has played out over several years. Projections cited by industry trackers suggested Endgame’s rerelease could finish with roughly $2.95 billion worldwide, a figure that would widen its margin.

What it means

The record itself changes little about how either film is regarded, but it is a useful marker of how thoroughly Disney dominates the upper reaches of the all-time box-office list. It also sets the stage for Doomsday, which arrives the same day as Dune: Part Three, creating a crowded December weekend that some in the industry have already compared to the Barbenheimer phenomenon. Whether the new Marvel film can approach Endgame’s totals is an open question, but the rerelease has ensured that the old record, and the rivalry behind it, stay in the spotlight a while longer.

Sources

The Walt Disney Company, “‘Avengers: Endgame’ Surpasses ‘Avatar’ to Reclaim All-Time Box Office Record”; and Euronews, “‘Avengers: Endgame’ dethrones ‘Avatar’ once more as highest-grossing movie in history” (October 2026).