'Avengers: Endgame' Officially Surpasses 'Avatar' As The Highest Grossing Movie Of All-Time

Even though it seemed like the numbers wouldn't add up for Avengers: Endgame to surpass James Cameron's Avatar as the highest grossing movie of all-time, Kevin Feige announced that Marvel Studios would soon be taking the crown during their presentation at Comic-Con yesterday. But Walt Disney Studios chairman and chief creative officer Alan Horn made it even more official by releasing a statement announcing that Avengers: Endgame was taking the top spot.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed a statement made by Alan Horn yesterday congratulating this major achievement:

"A huge congratulations to the Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Studios teams, and thank you to the fans around the world who lifted Avengers: Endgame to these historic heights."

It should be noted that Avengers: Endgame only surpassed Avatar without the 2009 movie being adjusted for inflation. Plus, during yesterdays Marvel Studios panel at Comic-Con, Kevin Feige said this box office milestone would be crossed in "a matter of days." After all, Avengers still trailed Avatar last weekend by $7 million, but the movie could have easily earned that over the past week and into next week. However, it seems like what really helped the total came from the final theatrical calculations.

In recent days, apparently Disney found some box office money that hadn't been included in the numbers while reconciling the movie's final global earnings. That's something that every studio does when a movie is reaching the end of its theatrical run, and it's common for the numbers to fluctuate slightly. In this case, that fluctuation combined with the extra money taken in from the rest of the week and the totals from this weekend will result in a new #1 movie of all-time.

Avengers: Endgame had only earned $2.7892 billion by Friday, which was $500,000 behind Avatar's $2.7897 billion. But that gap will be closed on Saturday or Sunday once weekend box office grosses are tallied. So there you have it.

Alan Horn didn't gloat in the rest of his statement though, giving credit where credit is due to James Cameron:

"Of course, even with the passage of a decade, the impact of James Cameron's Avatar remains as powerful as ever, and the astonishing achievements of both of these films are ongoing proof of the power of movies to move people and bring them together in a shared experience. The talented filmmakers behind these worlds have much more in store, and we look forward to the future of both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Pandora."

Plus, at the end of the day, Disney now owns 20th Century Fox, who distributed the original Avatar and would have distributed the sequels. So even if James Cameron's Avatar sequels end up making bigger waves at the box office, Disney will still remain the box office champ.