When it was announced that Avengers: Endgame would be getting a re-release with some new footage included, most people saw it for what it really was – an attempt to beat Avatar’s huge box office success.
Endgame may have earned $1.2 billion worldwide in the opening weekend alone, however, it seems unlikely it’ll reach the highs of Avatar’s $2.788 billion total. This is despite the fact the numbers have been steadily climbing in the weeks since its release.
To win at the box office, Endgame would need to make $38 million with its re-release, however, Deadline reports that the movie will struggle to hit this mark because it’s come “far short of Avatar in lucrative countries outside the U.S. and China”.
“Endgame made 53% of its global gross in U.S./Canada and China, whereas those two territories only repped 34% of Avatar’s lifetime worldwide market sales.”
So, James Cameron’s film managed to cover more ground offshore, also, the publication reports, “China also has a 30-day play period policy on U.S. pics, and Endgame didn’t receive an extension.”
Avatar had crazy records in numerous countries, so the amount Endgame would need to out-earn in those countries is enormous.
In countries like France, Japan, Germany, Russia, Spain and Italy the film has already finished its run “with screens promised to the next round of local and Hollywood fare”.
Something else that Avatar had in its favour was that, at the time, people were seriously excited about the idea of 3D movies and how it would change the movie’s experience.
Even if Disney doesn’t win at the box office with Endgame, it’s still a huge achievement to have earned as much money as it has. They also have a lot of highly anticipated films coming out this year including The Lion King, Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that will no doubt add plenty of dollars to their pockets.
