James Cameron Congratulates Endgame for Taking Avatar's Crown — Again

Hollywood's most polite rivalry has produced another exchange of gifts. James Cameron has publicly congratulated Marvel Studios after Avengers: Endgame once again surpassed his Avatar as the highest-grossing film of all time — a lead change manufactured, for the second time in this feud, by a re-release. Cameron's message, shared on October 16 and reported by TheWrap, arrived as custom artwork: Iron Man standing among a Na'vi tribe from Avatar, with the words "You are one of the people" and a note congratulating Marvel and the No. 1 Avengers: Endgame: Encore "for bringing moviegoers to the cinemas," signed Jim Cameron.

The numbers, such as they are

According to TheWrap, citing The Numbers, Avatar's total international box office stands at $2.924 billion, while Endgame reached $2.9255 billion following the Encore re-release that opened September 25. Particle News, summarizing the same trackers, put the figures at roughly $2.925 billion against $2.923–2.924 billion — either way, a margin on the order of one to two million dollars on totals of nearly three billion, which is to say a rounding error with a trophy attached. The Encore edition, which features a modified ending and new post-credit scenes designed to set up this winter's Avengers: Doomsday, earned $11.2 million from 3,060 locations on its opening Friday, TheWrap reported, and Disney confirmed the record change on October 4.

A rivalry conducted entirely in congratulations

This is the second time Cameron has passed the crown to Endgame personally. In July 2019, when the Marvel film first surpassed Avatar, Cameron wrote, in the message TheWrap recalls: "Oel ngati kameie. I see you Marvel. Congratulations to 'Avengers: Endgame' on becoming the new box-office king." Avatar then reclaimed the title with its own 2021 re-release, and Marvel marked that reversal by posting a video of the Avengers title being wiped away by Avatar. The pattern is now established enough to have a format: the loser congratulates, the winner celebrates, and both studios — both films are Disney properties — collect the publicity either way.

Cameron's 2026 message adds a forward-looking jab that keeps the game alive. As MovieWeb reported, his caption challenged Marvel with the line "Until 2029 and the Avatar 20th Anniversary release reclaims the title yet again" — a public commitment to a fourth exchange, timed to a re-release three years out and to a period when, per MovieWeb, a fourth Avatar film is lined up for December 21, 2029. Marvel, meanwhile, is using Encore openly as a runway: the new footage points at Avengers: Doomsday, and the re-release has functioned as much as marketing for the next Avengers film as as a record attempt in its own right.

What the flip actually demonstrates

Strip away the ceremony and the episode is a case study in what re-releases are for in the franchise era. A premium-format return engagement costs a small fraction of a new production, monetizes nostalgia at full ticket prices, dominates a news cycle for a weekend, and — as Particle News observed in its analysis — can flip all-time rankings, boost short-term revenue and serve as a launchpad for a coming sequel simultaneously. The all-time chart is no longer a measurement of single theatrical runs; it is a cumulative ledger that any sufficiently valuable library title can keep adding to, which means the "record" now belongs to whichever studio most recently decided to spend a weekend reclaiming it.

The artwork itself has become part of the ritual. In 2019, as Laughing Place's account of that first exchange recalls, Cameron marked Endgame's coronation with an image of Iron Man surrounded by wood sprites from Pandora. This year's version goes further: ComicBook.com describes the Na'vi — including Neytiri and Tsu'tey — laying hands on Iron Man's armor and declaring him one of their people, which in Avatar's own terms is not a consolation prize but an adoption. The escalation of the gesture mirrors the escalation of the contest: the first congratulations marked a passing of the torch, while this one reads as two champions acknowledging they are likely to keep trading the same belt for as long as both catalogs remain in active circulation.

What happens next is already scheduled. Encore continues its theatrical run with its Doomsday-pointing footage as the draw, and Marvel's next Avengers film arrives this winter with the re-release having warmed up its audience. Cameron's counter-move is dated 2029, when the Avatar 20th anniversary re-release he name-checked in his caption is positioned to reclaim the lead in exactly the same fashion — a limited engagement, premium formats, and a fan base that has shown up for this ritual before. Between now and then, the honest summary of the all-time chart is that two Disney-owned films sit within a rounding error of each other at roughly $2.92 billion apiece, and the identity of the "biggest movie ever" depends mostly on which one a studio chose to re-release most recently.

That does not make the numbers meaningless. Avatar held the top spot from 2009 to 2019, took it back in 2021 and held it for five more years; Endgame's totals were built on one of the largest opening runs in history. But the crown's practical meaning has changed: it is now less a finish line than a title belt, defended and challenged by appointment. Cameron's artwork understands this perfectly. He did not concede anything permanent. He welcomed Iron Man into the tribe — and announced, in the same breath, the date he intends to take the belt back.