Iron Man may have defeated Thanos, but he couldn’t beat the Na’vi – at least not this week.

In the battle for highest box office take of all time, Avengers: Endgame was top of the list, that is until Avatar was re-released in China. Prior to the release of Endgame in April 2019, James Cameron’s groundbreaking sci-fi epic held the ultimate box office crown for a decade with $2.7897 billion worldwide. Avengers: Endgame eclipsed that milestone ever so slightly after its release, churning out a casual $2.7902 billion in global ticket sales.

That changed on Friday, when Avatar returned to movie theaters in China and grossed $3.5 million, pushing its total haul to a historic $2.7926 billion. After this weekend, Avatar should easily take back the top box office prize after all box office receipts are tallied.

China’s film bureau had requested popular films like Avatar be re-released there as a way to boost the numbers for its theater re-openings. Avatar had been a hit in the country, grossing $206 million when it was released there in 2010.

Avatar beat out Cameron’s 1997 Titanic, the former global box office champ, after being released in 2009. It held that title for ten years until Avengers: Endgame came along. Marvel boss Kevin Feige announced the news in Hall H during the studio’s panel at Comic-Con back in July 2019.

Cameron has been busy working on the sequels in New Zealand as Covid cases calmed there. He finished part two and has begun work on part three. Disney has scheduled Avatar 2 for December 16th, 2022, part 3 for December 2024, part 4 for December 2026 and the series conclusion part five for December 2028.

Obviously the big winner here is Disney which now owns both franchises after its acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which owned Avatar, in 2019. Regardless of whether Avatar or Avengers: Endgame is the top-grossing movie of all-time, Disney is riding high, owning both of them and six other of the top 10 grossing films of all-time.