As the new year gets underway, it seems Avengers: Endgame has managed to achieve one last box office milestone thanks to some newly updated numbers from China.
Forbes reports that the highest grossing film of all time has just widened its lead by another $3 million, finding the additional income in the latest figures from the Middle Kingdom. This should push the movie’s global box office total just past the $2.8 billion mark, making it the first film ever to reach this number.
With this latest update, Endgame’s worldwide gross is now almost $11 million ahead of Avatar, which managed a total of just under $2.790 billion after hitting theaters in 2009. Nonetheless, the James Cameron sci-fi still holds the honor of being the only movie to ever pass $2 billion overseas, since Endgame’s international total falls just short at $1.941 billion.
Regardless, it could be a very long wait before Marvel Studios or anyone else manages to dethrone Endgame in the global rankings.
This year, for instance, it’s hard to imagine any new release achieving quite the same box office dominance, despite such highly anticipated blockbusters as Wonder Woman 1984 and No Time to Die being scheduled for release. Even the MCU has dialed back a little on the theatrical outings in 2020, delivering just two movies as opposed to their usual three.
Of course, Marvel fans should still find plenty of content to hold their interest in the next twelve months, as the franchise makes the jump to Disney Plus with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and WandaVision. And while the upcoming Black Widow may not be an adventure on the scale of Avengers: Endgame, the Phase 4 opener will still have a fair amount of hype to live up to when it hits theaters on May 1st.