This past July, Avengers: Endgame officially passed Avatar to become the highest-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office, earning $2.79 billion.
According to Avatar filmmaker James Cameron, his upcoming sequel to the original 2009 film is virtually guaranteed to outperform the Marvel Cinematic Universe film upon its long-awaited release in 2021. While revealing he enjoyed Endgame and respects the MCU, Cameron claimed Avatar 2 taking the box office record would be "a certainty."
"I think it’s a certainty," Cameron told USA Today. "But let’s give Endgame their moment and let’s celebrate that people are going to the movie theater."
Cameron has been working on the development of three additional Avatar films for years, with live-action principal photography on the first sequel wrapping last month. As the film moves into the lengthy post-production process, Cameron noted that Endgame surpassing the original Avatar may have been a math error due to the small margin between the two films' box office earnings, with Avatar earning $2.78 billion across its entire theatrical run.
"I don’t want to sound snarky after I took the high road (by offering congratulations)," continued Cameron. "But they beat us by one quarter of a percent. I did the math in my head while driving in this morning. I think accountants call that a rounding error."
Written and directed by James Cameron, Avatar 2 stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, Edie Falco, Kate Winslet, Oona Chaplin, Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh and David Thewlis. The film is slated to release in December 2021.