James Cameron says 'Avatar 2' overtaking 'Avengers: Endgame' at the box office is 'a certainty'

James Cameron is super confident about how Avatar 2 will go down.

The director, who will follow up his 2009 blockbuster with a sequel in 2021, the original movie making a record-breaking $2.79 billion at the box office, the first movie to make over $2 billion.

However, since the pioneering sci-fi movie broke the all time box office record, Avengers: Endgame came and knocked it off its perch earlier this year.

Read more: Everything you need to know about Avatar 2

But Cameron clearly has the Marvel heroes in his sights.

Asked whether he reckoned Avatar 2 will overtake Avengers: Endgame, he told USA Today: “I think it’s a certainty.

“But let’s give Endgame their moment and let’s celebrate that people are going to the movie theater.”

Cameron was among the first to congratulate Marvel when Endgame topped Avatar earlier this year, and also tweeted when Endgame toppled his other previous record-holder, Titanic.

But it appears his graciousness has now escaped him.

“I don’t want to sound snarky after I took the high road,” he added. “But they beat us by one quarter of a percent. I did the math in my head while driving in this morning. I think accountants call that a rounding error.”

It remains to be seen whether the appetite still exists for an Avatar sequel, let alone the four movies he has in the pipeline.

He's filmed the second and third movies back to back, but he's not always been quite so confident.

Cameron admitted in an interview in 2017 that if the first two sequels don't do well, the landscape could quickly change.

“Let's face it, if Avatar 2 and 3 don't make enough money, there's not going to be a 4 and 5,” he told Vanity Fair.

That said, the pioneering effects that Cameron is using, with the help of Peter Jackson's Weta studio, could be enough to make Avatar 2 a huge box office hit.

He's previously said that he hopes the movie will provide the first ever 'glasses-free' 3D experience, though it's not yet known whether this has been achieved.

Avatar 2 is set to land on December 17, 2021, with Avatar 3 following on December 22, 2023.