'Avengers: Endgame' takes the box office crown back from 'Avatar'

Avengers: Endgame has reclaimed the number one spot on Hollywood's all-time worldwide box office chart.

The superhero epic, in which dozens of Marvel superheroes oppose Thanos, a supervillain who has erased half the universe's population, first became the highest grossing film in history in 2019.

Its $2.799 billion total eclipsed that of James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar (2009), which had held that title for ten years.

Then Avatar, which tells the story of an Indigenous population fighting off a human invasion on the moon Pandora, was re-released in 2022 to drum up interest in a sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water. That re-release, combined with a first-time release in China, earned enough to allow Avatar to retake the top spot.

Now, it's the Avengers franchise that has a sequel coming — Avengers: Doomsday, arriving in theaters on December 18. So, following the same playbook, Endgame has been re-released, and has reclaimed the crown with a new worldwide total of $2.9255 billion.

It's a friendly competition — both films are Disney releases. And while those numbers are impressive, their jockeying reflects rising ticket prices more than rising attendance.