Could Avatar reclaim to prestigious title of highest-grossing movie of all time from Avengers: Endgame? It's certainly a strong possibility.
James Cameron's 2009 film is set to return to Chinese theaters this weekend for a full-scale nationwide release in both Imax 3D and ordinary 3D, and THR believes there's a "good chance" it'll make enough to restore its crown as the top-grossing global blockbuster (not adjusted for inflation), pushing Marvel's Infinity Saga finale back into second place in the process.
Endgame took in a whopping $2.797 billion when it hit theaters in 2019, topping the previous record of $2.790 billion held by Avatar. This means the sci-fi epic will need to earn just under $7.4 million to knock the superhero spectacular off the #1 podium.
As you may recall, Avatar was one of several movies China's Film Bureau requested for re-release last March when the Middle Kingdom was planning a staged reopening after (mistakenly) assuming they had a handle on the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Endgame was also on that list, and might also be given another run at some point.
Of course, Disney has owned the rights to Avatar since its acquisition of 20th Century Fox's assets, so it's a win-win for the Mouse House one way or the other - but don't expect Marvel fans to be too happy about this development!