- “Avengers: Endgame” is shattering box-office records and recently passed the worldwide haul of James Cameron’s “Titanic.”
- Cameron sent a fun congratulatory note to Marvel on “sinking” the “Titanic,” which held one of the top two box-office spots for a decade on Thursday.
- The image shows the “Avengers” letter “A” replacing the iceberg that sank the Titanic.
- The note is part of a longstanding tradition going back to the 1970s. Directors and friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg used to take out full-page ads in Variety congratulating each other when one of their films beat theirs at the box office.
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Honoring a longstanding tradition, “Titanic” director James Cameron congratulated “Avengers: Endgame” for toppling his movie’s box office haul on Thursday.
It’s the latest conquest as “Endgame” has been shattering box-office records. The 22nd entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe topped the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time with $356 million.
Just how big is that? The previous opening record held by “Infinity War” was $257.7 million.
Worldwide, “Endgame” has grossed over $2.2 billion, surpassing “Titanic” as the second-highest grossing movie of all time. Cameron knows that’s no easy feat. The 1997 Oscar-winning movie has been atop the box-office’s highest-grossing movies for over two decades.
Here’s the note of congratulations from Cameron to Marvel on its achievement. It shows the Avengers logo sinking the famous ship into the ocean.
It reads:
“To Kevin and everybody at Marvel,
An iceberg sank the real Titanic. It took the Avengers to sink my Titanic. Everyone here at Lightstorm Entertainment salutes your amazing achievement. You’ve shown that the movie industry is not only alive and well, it’s bigger than ever!
Jim Cameron”
The note of congratulations is part of a longstanding tradition started back in the ’70s between “Star Wars” director George Lucas and director pal Steven Spielberg.
It started in 1977, when Spielberg took a full-page ad out in Variety magazine to congratulate Lucas’ “Star Wars” on beating “Jaws” at the box office.
The playful ad shows “Stars Wars” droid R2-D2 catching the shark on the end of his fishing hook.
A few years later, Lucas took out an ad in Variety when Spielberg’s “E.T.” became the highest-grossing movie in 1982. The ad shows Han Solo and Luke Skywalker lifting E.T. up in the air as the rest of the “Star Wars” crew – including Darth Vader – party.
That wasn’t the end. When Lucas released the original “Star Wars” trilogy again in theaters in the ’90s, Spielberg revived the tradition. After the re-release beat out “E.T.,” Spielberg took out another full-page Variety ad.
This time, E.T. gave the box-office crown to R2-D2.
The ads weren’t exclusive to just Lucas and Spielberg. When “Titanic” shattered the “Star Wars” box-office records in 1998, Lucas included director James Cameron in on the fun.
In recent years, the tradition has carried on to include other studios.
Marvel Studios’ head Kevin Feige sent Universal a congratulatory note when “Jurassic World” broke the box-office record held by 2012’s “Avengers.”
The image shows Chris Pratt, who starred in both “Jurassic World” and Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” atop a T. rex holding Thor’s mighty hammer. It’s cool to see, knowing Spielberg directed the first “Jurassic Park.”
In 2015, “Jurassic World” producer Frank Marshall passed the box-office torch once again to Lucasfilm after “The Force Awakens” took the top spot at theaters. This time, the T. rex gave droid BB-8 a medallion.
In 2018, after “Avengers: Infinity War” passed “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” to have the highest-grossing opening weekend of all time, Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, sent the following note to Marvel Studios. (Note that both companies are owned by Disney.)
The note, shared on the official “Star Wars” social accounts, showed an image of Rey handing a lightsaber to Tony Stark’s Iron Man to celebrate.
It reads:
“From a Galaxy far, far away… to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Congratulations on the biggest opening weekend in history!
From Kathy and everyone at Lucasfilm!”
It may not be long until we see another one of these posters. “Avengers: Endgame” may very well surpass Cameron’s other movie, “Avatar,” to become the highest-grossing movie worldwide of all time very soon.
- Read more:
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- 7 details you may have missed in the new ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ trailer
- 10 hints in ‘Avengers: Endgame’ at where Marvel is going next
- The Avengers made several silly errors in ‘Endgame’ – here’s what they should’ve done instead
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