Before Avengers: Endgame was ever released the idea that it might become the highest grossing movie of all-time was already a topic of discussion. When the film set every opening weekend record imaginable, it seemed almost assured. However, in the ensuing weeks it has looked more and more like Endgame would come up ever so slightly short.
The recent re-release of the film with some additional footage was a clear effort to drive fans back to the theater to see the big Marvel Cinematic Universe climax one more time, and, after two weekends, it has give the film a bit of a boost, as Avengers: Endgame is just over $15 million away from Avatar's record box office number.
Avengers: Endgame sits with $15,502,254 less in global box office receipts than Avatar as of right now according to Box Office Mojo. That number is an estimate as the official numbers for this past weekend, as well as the international locations where the movie is still showing, have not been released. Even if the number shifts, it won't be by a massive amount.
$15 million isn't a lot of money by global box office standards, the only question is, with Endgame wrapping up its run, is what little energy the movie has left enough to bring in that business? Endgame made about $3 million domestically this past weekend, about half what it made last weekend, when the film did get a box office boost by the re-release footage.
Internationally, the re-release gave the movie a boost to $2.6 million in total overseas business. The total international number for this past weekend hasn't be calculated, but if we conservatively guess the movie did $2 million, Avengers: Endgame would need three more weekends just like that to break the record. Since these numbers will be dropping, it seems doing the approximately $15 million in business is going to be tough.
Avengers: Endgame will be hitting Digital HD at the end of July and will be released on Blu-ray in mid-August. It's certainly possible the movie will still be in theaters at that point, it almost certainly will be on a few, but once people have the ability to watch the movie at home even fewer will make a point to check it out in theaters.
Considering just how big a jump that Avengers: Endgame got on Avatar, it shows just how impressive the Avatar record actually is. Avatar spent 36 weekends in theaters during its initial run. Endgame just finished weekend 11 and certainly won't even double that number. While domestically the Avengers trounced Avatar in a fraction of the time, the international box office is even more important today than it was in 2010. That's where Avatar saw a lot more support than Marvel has received.
Of course, it will be interesting to see how the Avatar sequels stack up when they start hitting theaters in a couple years. Is there something that audiences truly love about Avatar or was that film just in the right place at the right time. It was likely also in the right format, t was one of the first wide release films to fully embrace the newest version of 3D filmmaking, which increased average ticket price and likely is one of the major reasons Avatar set the record that it did.
