Proclaimed as the ‘cinematic event of our lifetime,’ Avengers: Endgame has dominated the pop-culture lexicon ever since the cliffhanger-ending of Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos wiping out half of all life, including beloved heroes like Spider-Man, Black Panther, left audiences in a state of shock, which made the final chapter of the 22-film saga even more of an event. When the tickets went on sale for Endgame, ticketing sites like AMC, Fandango, Atom Tickets, either crashed or experienced huge delays from system overloads. Fandango reported that Endgame’s pre-sale tickets demolished the previous record-holder’s pre-sales, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in less than 1/4th the time. The record-breaking pre-sales immediately left the film-fan community wondering – Will Avengers: Endgame be the movie that finally dethrones Avatar’s 10-year long-held #1 spot in the worldwide box office list. Despite the crazy hype and buzz that Avengers: Infinity War and the Force Awakens enjoyed, the 2 Disney flicks successfully joined the exclusive 2-billion club but were unable to topple James Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar. Titanic remained #2 at $2.187.5 billion, while Avatar sat comfortably at #1 with $2.788 billion. All that seemingly changed once Endgame opened.

Endgame opened to a tune of $357 million, utterly annihilating the previous domestic-opening weekend record-holder, Infinity War ($257 million). Worldwide, Endgame opened to Galactus-sized $1.2 billion, destroying the previous opening weekend record-holder, Infinity War ($641 million). With the gargantuan $1.2 billion opening weekend that Endgame had, even the most skeptical box-office pundits became all-but-certain that it’s not a matter of if but when Avatar would be dethroned by the Avengers flick. However, it looks like Endgame will end up being just short of Avatar’s record, which is something I have said since day 1. As of this writing, Endgame is at $2.749 billion, less than $40 million from Avatar. Barring a miracle, Endgame will probably end its run with $2.754 billion at this rate. Shameful, right? Disney is crying itself to sleep, knowing that their movie, Endgame, won’t top their other film, Avatar (recently-acquired from the Fox purchase). Just being facetious, of course. Who am I kidding? As I write this article, the Disney execs are probably sleeping atop the piles of cash Endgame raked in.

Jokes aside, I believe there are 2 big reasons for Endgame failing to top Avatar’s record – the sheer competition and the 3-hour run-time.

Competition

In my opinion, the sheer competition is the biggest reason for Endgame failing to top Avatar. Unlike its rival, Endgame faced/continues to face an onslaught of heavy competition. Just for the sake of simplification and ease, I will only list movies that grossed at least $100 million within Endgame and Avatar’s first 2 months of release. In its first 2 months, Endgame’s major competition included – Detective Pikachu ($422 million+), John Wick 3 ($290 million +), Aladdin ($800 million +), Godzilla 2 ($350 million +), Rocketman ($150 million +), Dark Phoenix ($250 million +), Secret Life of Pets 2 ($200 million +), Men in Black ($180 million +), Toy Story 4 (just opened as of me writing this article – $238 million +), and Annabelle 3 (yet to open). Not to mention, Spider-Man: Far From Home and The Lion King also release real soon. Even though none of the aforementioned movies will make as much money as Endgame, they definitely took (at least $40 million) money away from Endgame.

On the other hand, let’s look at Avatar’s competition in its first 2 months of release. Avatar’s significant competition included – Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel ($443 million +), Sherlock Holmes ($524 million +), The Wolfman ($139 million +), Shutter Island ($294.8 million +), and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief ($226 million +).

Note – Endgame faced 2x the significant competition than Avatar. In addition, the competing films also went for a similar demographic as Endgame. Sans John Wick 3, Annabelle 3 and Rocketman, the other 7 films have a four-quadrant appeal and target a family-audience. In Avatar’s case, there really isn’t a clear-cut direct competition. Alvin and the Chipmunks is primarily targeted at the kids, while the Percy Jackson flick is more targeted towards the young adults. Wolfman, Shutter Island, and Sherlock Holmes are all geared toward adults.

Run-time

The longer a movie is, the fewer number of showtimes can it have in a day. Avatar clocks in at 2 hours and 42 minutes, while Endgame has a run-time of 3 hours and 2 minutes. One might be tempted to say, “It’s only a 20-minute difference. Big deal!” In reality, those 20 minutes are a huge deal! With significantly less competition and a shorter run-time, Avatar was able to stay in theatres a lot longer and play on many more screens than theatres could for Endgame. Being 3 hours long, theatres can only show Endgame a finite number of times in any given day. Because this article does a superb job in explaining the correlation between a longer run-time and box office, I highly recommend checking out this article from Variety. As explained in the article, “exhibitors are budgeting an additional hour for each screening, which cuts at least one showtime daily.” Multiply one lost screen with every theatre domestically and Endgame loses at least 4000 screenings in any given day. Of course, this number is a lot higher when you factor in the international screens.

In addition, the lengthier run-time also affects the re-watchability factor. Even if people love Endgame 3000, many are a little hesitant to go back to the theatres and re-watch Endgame, as it’s a pretty long movie. And obviously, going to the movie theatre is a costly, time-consuming endeavor. Not to mention, many parents might be afraid of taking their young children to a 3 hour+ movie.

Conclusion

Despite the huge opening weekend, Avengers: Endgame won’t (and doesn’t have to) catch Avatar at its current pace. The movie faced a lot of competition and it’s lengthier run-time limits the number of screenings per day. Yes, you also have other factors like streaming options, novelty, etc. but the effects of those are arguably minuscule compared to the reasons I elaborated on. However, the rank really doesn’t matter that much. Either way, we (and Disney) win. Besides, Endgame has made over $2.7 billion, something only one other film has ever done. It has already broken most of the box-office records and cemented its place in the hearts of movie-goers. Honestly, there is nothing to be ashamed about for Endgame winning the silver medal.

PS – Disney/Marvel is “re-releasing” Endgame with a deleted scene, a tribute (presumably of Stan Lee) and “some extra surprises.” Even though it’s still possible, I just don’t see Endgame making an additional $40 million from this so-called “extended cut.”