The Avengers has officially been knocked out of the top 10 all-time highest grossing movies at the domestic box office nearly 11 years later.
The Avengers has been knocked out of the Top 10 all-time highest grossing movies domestically after almost 11 years. The first major Marvel Cinematic Universe crossover movie from Marvel Studios debuted in theaters in May 2012 and completely changed the future of the franchise with its success. Bringing Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) together for the first time was the cinematic event of the year. The Avengers received rave reviews from audiences and easily became the MCU’s biggest box office hit after making $1.5 billion worldwide.
Over a decade after its theatrical debut, The Avengers has now lost one of its many box office records. Thanks to Avatar: The Way of Water‘s continued box office success, The Avengers is no longer one of the top 10 all-time highest grossing movies domestically. The MCU movie’s domestic haul of $623,357,910 has officially been passed by James Cameron’s Avatar sequel, $623,536,460, according to The Numbers. The Avengers is still in the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time at the worldwide box office, though, and was passed by Avatar: The Way of Water weeks ago.
How The Top 10 Highest Grossing Movies List Has Changed Since The Avengers
The Avengers losing its box office record of being one of the top 10 highest grossing movies domestically is a reflection of how much the list has changed in the last decade. At the time that the MCU Phase 1 movie was released, it was the third-biggest movie ever at the domestic box office and worldwide behind Avatar and Titanic. The top 10 all-time highest grossing movies domestic list has changed drastically and now has movies from the Star Wars, Jurassic World, and Top Gun franchises in it. Avatar: The Way of Water also gives James Cameron his third movie in the top 10.
Here's a fun one: Top 10 domestic box office relative to #Avatar pic.twitter.com/mOYWHjzEKf — ☕Stephen M. Colbert (@smcolbert) January 27, 2023
Seeing The Avengers‘ spot among the highest grossing movie domestically end is partially due to the film’s own success. The film was responsible for vaulting the MCU movies to a greater popularity moving forward. Marvel Studios was then responsible for releasing four movies that outgrossed The Avengers domestically: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Avengers: Endgame. Only Black Panther came shy of topping the MCU Phase 1 movie worldwide.
For as impressive as The Avengers‘ box office performance was in 2012 and continues to be today, the movie is poised to only continue falling down the all-time highest grossing movies list. Making over $600 million domestically was an incredibly rare accomplishment a decade ago. However, three movies did it within the past year roughly. With a huge MCU Multiverse Saga slate, a new DC Universe slate, three more Avatar movies, and much more coming in the next several years, there are plenty of films to further push down The Avengers‘ highest grossing movies domestically list.
