Avengers: Endgame sank Titanic, director James Cameron says
The Marvel Cinematic Universe epic has taken the 1997 disaster movie's place as the second highest-grossing film of all time.
Titanic director James Cameron has congratulated the team behind Avengers: Endgame on the movie's box office success.
Watch out, Avatar.
Titanic director James Cameron on Wednesday congratulated Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and his team for the box office success of Avengers: Endgame after it snatched his movie's spot as the second highest-grossing film of all time.
"To Kevin and everybody at Marvel," he wrote in an Instagram post, which shows the ill-fated ship hitting the Avengers logo. "An iceberg sank the real Titanic. It took the Avengers to sink my Titanic. Everyone here at Lightstorm Entertainment salutes your amazing achievement. You've shown that the movie industry is not only alive and well, it's bigger than ever."
Cameron apparently changed his tune since last year, when he expressed hope that people would start feeling Avengers fatigue.
The superhero epic earned $2.189 billion in the first 12 days since its release in late April, passing Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the $2.187 billion Cameron's 1997 movie made in their theatrical runs. Now it's second only to 2009's Avatar -- also from Cameron -- which earned $2.788 billion during its run.
Regardless of which movie ends up holding the crown, Disney wins. It owns the Marvel and Avatar franchises (as well as Star Wars). There are eight Marvel movies coming before the end of 2022, with Avatar sequels coming in 2021, 2023, 2025 and 2027.
First published at 5:45 a.m. PT.
Update, 6:16 a.m.: Adds more detail.
