Avengers: Endgame Encore, a theatrical re-release of the 2019 Marvel blockbuster with several minutes of new footage, opened to an estimated $86 million worldwide, ranking first on global box office charts. The debut included $26 million domestically and $60 million internationally, according to estimates.
The re-release is designed to bridge the gap between the original film and Avengers: Doomsday, the crossover event scheduled for release this December. Director Joe Russo has described the new clips as critical to the next movie's plot, giving fans a reason to return to theaters beyond nostalgia. The added material ties directly into the upcoming storyline, and most of the original film remains intact, allowing audiences to relive its major moments before Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and others return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe later this year.
Disney has marked the opening as the second-highest debut for a re-release ever, trailing only 2012's Titanic 3D. The strong turnout suggests that even seven years after its original run, Endgame retains significant drawing power. The film has now reached $2.885 billion in worldwide box office, a total that few releases have approached. When it first arrived in 2019, Endgame shattered records, and it returned later that same year for an initial re-release. Many of its notable feats have held up since, with only Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Brand New Day able to topple some of them last month.
The encore also sparked conversation beyond its box office performance. A new star-studded pre-movie opener asks audiences to silence their phones, a small addition that has become a talking point among fans as anticipation builds for Doomsday. The debate over whether a few minutes of new footage justifies another ticket price appears to have been settled by the $86 million haul, at least for the many moviegoers who showed up.
Elsewhere at the box office, Zach Cregger's Resident Evil demonstrated staying power in its second weekend, adding $23 million domestically and $27 million internationally. Its two-weekend worldwide total now sits at $196.5 million against a reported $75 million budget. Despite facing skepticism from some fans, the adaptation of the Capcom video game series quickly became the highest-rated game adaptation of all time.
Also opening this weekend was Heart of the Beast, a Brad Pitt-led survival film with a canine companion, which brought in $50.1 million globally. Director Lance Oppenheim and star Robert Pattinson's Primetime, a biopic based on Chris Hansen's To Catch a Predator, earned $20.06 million globally, with $19.2 million of that from domestic theaters. The top five global films for the weekend were Avengers: Endgame Encore in first, Resident Evil in second, Heart of the Beast in third, Primetime in fourth and Forgotten Island in fifth.
The encore release arrives as Marvel and Disney continue to capitalize on the Infinity Saga's enduring popularity. By pairing the original film with new scenes that feed directly into Doomsday, the studio has turned a seven-year-old movie into a preview event for its next major crossover. For now, the strategy has paid off at the box office, and it has given fans plenty to discuss as the December release approaches.