Recent release date changes to Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars have raised the question of whether the Marvel Cinematic Universe is coming for Avatar"s box office crown. The release date for Avengers: Doomsday was originally set for May 1, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars set to be released a year later on May 7, 2027. However, several reasons have caused Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars to be delayed by Marvel Studios, which many would argue will better serve the quality of both movies.
In recent years, the MCU has not had a truly big hitter at the worldwide box office. Of the 11 MCU movies to have made $1 billion at the box office, only two of these have come since 2019: Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021 and Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024. With the former being owned by Sony, only one outright Marvel movie has crossed the milestone since Avengers: Endgame. This has led many to look to upcoming Marvel movies like Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars to reclaim the studio"s previous box office dominance, and potentially rival 2009’s Avatar.
Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars Are Using Avatar's Release Strategy The Movies Are Attempting To Replicate James Cameron's Success Close With Avengers: Doomdsay and Avengers: Secret Wars both being delayed, the chances of them rivaling Avatar have somewhat increased. The delays mean that Avengers: Doomsday will now be released on December 18, 2026, while its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars, will be released worldwide on December 17, 2027. This box office window has proven to be highly successful for the Avatar franchise since its inception. In 2009, the first Avatar was released on the same date as Avengers: Doomsday will: December 18.
Marvel Studios will be hoping that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars find a similar level of success in their respective December release periods...
Avatar went on to become the highest-grossing movie in cinema history, earning a box office total of $2.9 billion after subsequent re-releases. Despite its sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, not releasing for another 13 years, that movie found great success in the December box office period too. The Way of Water was released on December 16, 2022, and grossed $2.3 billion worldwide. With the MCU"s recent delays, Marvel Studios will be hoping that Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars find a similar level of success in their respective December release periods.
Could Doomsday Or Secret Wars Become The Highest-Grossing Movie Ever? What Chance Does Either Movie Have At Surpassing Avatar? Custom image by Felipe Rangel Herein lies the big question, then, could either upcoming Avengers movie actually supplant Avatar as the highest-grossing movie in history? The answer is admittedly a complex one, as I feel like most people would immediately say they cannot. The reason for this is simply Marvel"s box office "struggles" of late. While Marvel is still an incredibly profitable movie studio, there is no denying that recent films have not hit the sustained, consistent heights of those between 2012 and 2019. The overall excitement for the general MCU is dwindling, with even a highly-ranked MCU movie like Thunderbolts* struggling to break even.
On the whole, the franchise simply has less momentum than it did in 2018 and 2019 with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The latter was one of the most hyped-up movies of all time and only just managed to surpass Avatar"s box office total before a re-release of James Cameron"s movie saw it reclaim the top spot. Given the greater absence of hype and momentum for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, it is difficult to say with certainty that either could cross the $3 billion mark that would likely be needed to beat Avatar"s worldwide haul.
Related The MCU’s $1 Billion Box Office Avengers Movie Records Raises A Way Higher Bar For Avengers: Doomsday Than I’d Realized After looking at the MCU"s box office history when it comes to the Avengers movies, the high bar set for Avengers: Doomsday becomes yet clearer.
Posts All that being said, if any upcoming Marvel movie has the chance to do so, it would be Avengers: Doomsday or, even more likely, Avengers: Secret Wars. As alluded to, the December release date will only help both movies. Of the seven movies to cross $2 billion at the box office, four were released in December: Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, Titanic, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This fact bodes well for both MCU movies.
While Avengers: Doomsday is less likely to supplant Avatar, that movie could help Secret Wars do so. If Avengers: Doomsday is truly great and recaptures the feeling many MCU fans have been looking for since 2019, the excitement for Secret Wars will only build. With the 2027 movie then likely to have big cameos from across the multiverse, it likely has the stronger chance of the two to beat Avatar. Despite that, this is still a very tough feat to accomplish, regardless of the delays to Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Created by Kevin Feige First Film Iron Man Latest Film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Upcoming Films Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania First TV Show WandaVision
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