Avengers: Endgame Is The Top-Grossing Movie Of All Time - With One Caveat

Adjusted for inflation is irrelevant when comparing Avatar to Endgame. Most of Avatars tickets were 3D and were more expensive than even today's standard tickets. Avatar sold so many mostly due to the lack of competition in said 3D theaters and not much competition in standard either. Endgame has actually sold more tickets worldwide than Avatar, which makes the inflation argument weak for Avatar. Not to mention Endgame has made more money in a fraction of the time. Another misconception is that Avatar has had only one re-release, when in fact it has had two. One was similar to Endgames re-release, but only made 5.5 mil, and did not have extra content added until several months later when it was re-released again with the extra footage, and made 30 mil more. Endgame has managed to make even more in its first re-release than Avatars two re-releases combined. So dont be surprised if Endgame has a proper re-release in the future with all deleted scenes finished. Should solidify Endgame as the #1 for years to come. Avatar wouldn't even make 2 bil if it had its 3D theaters taken away like what happens to movies today. Caveat for Endgame? I can think of quite a few caveats for Avatar.

That's a very silly caveat. Adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind beats both of these films for the highest grossing film.

Plus Avatar also re-released and had higher-than-normal priced tickets due to the 3D theaters. These numbers are all meaningless.

Adjusted for inflation shows the TRUE impact/effect and cultural phenomenons that the top films were, not what they do now. The list as it is now, did not have the impact/effect like the adjusted flicks! All of those in the top ten stayed on people's minds decades are they were released. The only except/deception, was The Force Awakens, which only made money on hype and using the original cast.

@gamepass1: Can you explain how in 1978 every movie theater in America had lines that went down sidewalk, wrapped around the building? This was when Star Wars came out.

I havent seen any lines or any waits for any of these movie.

So if you dont understand that inflation is the ONLY logical "meat in the seats" analysis when looking at a phenomenon from 40 years ago, can you explain to me what you do actually know about this?

PS: and yes, I said EVERY theater.

To be fair, inflation gets trickier with worldwide grosses. Not all countries inflate at the same rate, and some have experienced deflation or other changes. There are other major factors changing all over the world. It's just too many variables. That's why it's generally not factored into worldwide grosses.

Inflation factors would be avoided altogether if they simply counted the actual number of tickets sold for each movie. For example, the best selling/most popular car is the one that sells the most units, not the one that makes the most revenue. Both could certainly be the case, but not certain why this methodology was ever adopted for box office sales.

It’s a push or get Avatar fans or MCU haters to come out and beat it when Avatar 2 comes out. :D

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To be fair, Avatar re-released as well. And Disney owns both properties, doesn't it? So fighting to get it out of Cameron's hands likely didn't mean all that much to Disney. Marvel, sure.

none of this movies are better than Terminator 2 the judgement day.

I like bananas with my pancakes

Maybe a better metric would be to judge from tickets sold.

No, gone with the wind is the biggest film of all time.

Also Avatar's theatrical run was 34 weeks. Endgame so far is just shy of just 13 weeks.

Most importantly, Endgame is a good movie without gimmicks. Avatar is good with gimmicks. The gimmick being 3D.

What they never mention regarding Avatar is that like 75% of the money it made was from it being in 3d. Say it was $5 a ticket normally, seeing it in 3d it was like $15-20 in comparison.

Yes, Endgame is behind Avatar on the adjusted for inflation scale - but to put this in perspective they occupy positions 16 and 15 respectively on that list, both with less than half the revenue of the leader (Gone with the wind). Also, as others have pointed out, adjusting for inflation is a blunt tool for comparing historical revenues as it cannot take into account other social and economic factors such as the fact there were fewer alternative entertainment forms in 1939 when GWTW came out.

I'm guessing that Avatar might not have adjusted for inflation when it took #1. Whatev, if u ain't first you're last. Love u 3000 TS <3

Basically there's an asterisk next to the record. Just like with Barry Bonds homerun king record. But just looking at it face value, Endgame is the king.