The figure that matters: $86 million. That is the estimated global haul Disney reported for Avengers Endgame: Encore over the weekend of September 25-27, with $26 million from North America and $60 million from overseas. For a film first released in 2019, it was a No. 1 debut.
Disney called it the estimated second highest global debut of all time for a re-release. Deadline’s tally put the domestic number at $26 million from 3,060 theaters, split Friday $11.2M, Saturday $8.6M and Sunday $6.2M. Lifetime domestic earnings for the film stand at $884.3M.
Beating Revenge of the Sith
The domestic opening topped last year’s 20th anniversary re-release of Revenge of the Sith, which opened to $25.4M. The all-time domestic record for a re-release is still the 1997 rerun of Star Wars, at $35.9M.
Premium screens did the heavy lifting. Disney said more than 1,300 of the theaters were Infinity Vision auditoriums, its new premium large format certification, and they produced about 52% of the opening weekend figure. Deadline put the share of combined Imax and premium large format screens at 60%. Audiences were young: 66% were 18 to 34, and exit polling gave the film a 91% positive score.
There was extra footage for those who bought a ticket, six minutes and 17 seconds in Infinity Vision, two minutes and six seconds elsewhere. Disney said the additions include a first look at Avengers: Doomsday, due in theaters December 18. Co-director Anthony Russo told Marvel.com, “We weren’t going to mess with what that movie is.” Deadline called the release a marketing stunt for Doomsday.
Disney also noted that Marvel Studios now stands at $35.075 billion across its 38 films, and Endgame sits at $2.885 billion globally. That is No. 2 on the all-time list, $39 million behind Avatar.
A crowded top four
The Encore run did not have the weekend to itself. Deadline counted an estimated $122.3M for all movies in North America, the best 39th weekend of the year since 2015, with a Nor’easter hitting the Northeast and no material theater closures.
Resident Evil took second with $23.3M, down 61%, for a ten-day total of $103.4M. Paramount’s The Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt, was heading for $20M, ahead of the $18M forecast, though it carries an $82M net production cost.
A24’s Primetime opened to $19.1M from 2,863 theaters, with a B CinemaScore. Tracking before the weekend had suggested $12M to $16M. Robert Pattinson plays To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, and the film cost a net $15M, against $118M for Pattinson’s Mickey 17, which also opened to $19M. Deadline said younger viewers drove it: 46% of the audience was 25 to 34. DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island took $12.8M and an A CinemaScore.
Deadline said the domestic box office is on the verge of crossing $8 billion for the year, likely the following weekend. Last year it did not cross that mark until December.
Sources
- Box Office: 'Avengers Endgame' Leads Weekend Where Three Films Post $20M+ Each
- 'Avengers Endgame: Encore' Opens No. 1 as Marvel Studios Tops $35 Billion | The Walt Disney Company
