James Cameron may have publicly congratulated the team behind Avengers: Endgame after the conclusion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga dislodged Avatar to become the highest-grossing movie in the history of cinema, but you can guarantee that he’d have been seething behind the scenes.
After all, Cameron had held the distinction of directing history’s biggest commercial hit since 1997, and only reinforced his position a dozen years later when Avatar replaced Titanic at the top of the rankings, not to mention the fact that he’s gone on record and blamed a rounding error for causing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to knock the Na’vi from their perch.
However, it’s looking very likely that Avatar is set to reclaim the title of highest-grossing movie ever as soon as this weekend, following the news that the sci-fi blockbuster is being re-released into Chinese theaters on Friday. Needless to say, Endgame supporters were less than thrilled that its time could be up, and you can check out some of the reactions below.
can Cameron and Avatar please fuck off? no one cares about magic blue people movie. Endgame deserves its crown https://t.co/eNYmmPZlw0
— MG (@mgonmovies) March 10, 2021
https://twitter.com/Sweggy_Spoder/status/1369762255454285828
https://twitter.com/supermangeek101/status/1369336506708619279
They are SO WRONG for doing this! Fair enough do a re-release when the sequels come but not now! It better not make 7.4M https://t.co/mwUoop1bDg
— Lewis (Taylorโs Version) (@lpowell092020) March 9, 2021
Cant avatar tale 2nd place. I mean..Missing out to avengers endgame seriously isnโt exactly a small change!
— ๐๐๐๐๐๐ท๏ธ (@Santino_Geranio) March 10, 2021
https://twitter.com/supermangeek101/status/1369330907035955201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1369330907035955201%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fepicstream.com%2Fnews%2FBriConstantino%2FMarvel-Fans-Call-Avatars-Chinese-Re-Release-Desperate
This seems pretty desperate for James Cameron! Focus on making Avatar 2 great not about beating Avengers Endgame in a pandemic!
— Joshโค๏ธ Dune 2 & Godzilla X Kong #BlackLivesMatter (@supermangeek101) March 9, 2021
Avatar is gonna beat Endgame and then they'll release Endgame against etc. and people will keep going.
— Zen (@Zenrotwo) March 9, 2021
They're gonna rerelease Avatar in the west before the sequel comes out and I'll buy like 30 tickets to try and get it over Endgame.
— grace (@GemOfAmara) March 9, 2021
Disney re-releasing Avatar to take the lead so they can re-release Endgame again is hilarious tho
— Henry (@seminole4life22) March 9, 2021
James Cameron a fucking dork for rereleasing Avatar so it can pass Endgame lol make a new movie. Pretentious dickhead.
— Jacob ๐ต๐ท (@JacobFalcon23) March 9, 2021
Avatar only needs to earn $8 million to return to the summit, which feels like a foregone conclusion. Not only has the Chinese box office rebounded significantly in recent months, but the first time around, the Pandoran epic raked in over $200 million from the nation’s theaters, and needs just 4% of that amount to usurp Endgame.
Of course, Marvel Studios could simply retaliate by giving Avengers: Endgame a re-release of its own, which would extend its lead even further after the movie brought in a mammoth $629 million from China during the summer of 2019. But regardless of what happens, the real winners are going to be Disney, who own the rights to both properties and could play them against each other for years to come.