Director James Cameron has congratulated Marvel for surpassing his Titanic box office record with Avengers: Endgame.
The star-studded superhero blockbuster, the last in the franchise’s Infinity Saga, has crossed the two billion dollar (£1.5 billion) mark at the global box office in record time.
It is only one of five movies to hit the milestone and has ousted 1997 film Titanic as the second highest-grossing film worldwide.
— James Cameron (@JimCameron) May 9, 2019
Cameron tweeted his congratulations to Marvel and its president Kevin Feige, along with a mocked-up image of the Titanic resting on the Avengers logo, immersed in water.
He wrote: “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!”
Cameron is still at the top of the overall highest-grossing movies list with his 2009 sci-fi film Avatar.
Avatar hit the two billion dollar mark in 47 days, compared with 11 for the new Marvel film.
Earlier this week, the Walt Disney Company estimated that Avengers: Endgame has added 145.8 million dollars (£110 million) from North American cinemas and 282.2 million dollars (£214 million) internationally in its second weekend in cinemas, bringing its global total to 2.2 billion dollars (£1.7 billion).
Not accounting for inflation, the Marvel film is the second biggest of all time worldwide.
In the UK and Ireland, Avengers: Endgame is on course to become one of the most successful films in box office history.
New figures show that the film – starring the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Brie Larson and Gwyneth Paltrow – has taken a colossal £69.3 million after just two weeks on release, which is enough to place it just outside the 20 highest grossing films since current records began.
By next week Endgame will almost certainly be in the top 20 and on its way to overtaking the likes of 1993’s Jurassic Park (£75.8 million) and 1975’s Jaws (£80.6 million).
The film has already taken in two weeks almost the entire amount taken by Avengers: Infinity War in the whole of 2018 (£70.8 million).