'Endgame: Encore' Opens to $86M, Puts Avatar's Record in Play

Marvel's extended 'Endgame' re-release won the weekend with an $86 million global debut, leaving 'Avatar's' all-time crown just $39 million away.

Marvel ran its 2019 juggernaut back into theaters as 'Avengers: Endgame Encore,' and it won the weekend. According to Variety figures cited by The Source, the film earned $26 million from 3,060 North American theaters, with overseas grosses pushing the worldwide opening to an estimated $86 million. Daps Magic reports the split as $26 million domestic and $60 million international, and calls it the second-highest global debut ever for any re-release. As analyst David A. Gross, publisher of the FranchiseRe newsletter, told The Source: "Re-releases rarely earn more than $10 million."

The surprise is the scale. Re-releases almost never clear $10 million, per Gross's FranchiseRe analysis, yet 'Encore' opened eight times that benchmark worldwide on the strength of just four minutes of new footage filmed during 'Avengers: Doomsday' production. Netflix Junkie frames it as bonus scenes beating superhero fatigue — fans paid to rewatch a story they know by heart because the new material bridges into the next film. Joe Russo, per Netflix Junkie, calls the re-release 'required viewing' before 'Doomsday,' giving audiences a concrete reason to return.

The Main Street Mouse reports the re-release played in more than 3,000 theaters, with over 1,300 screening it in the premium Infinity Vision large format — a format that, according to that outlet, alone accounted for roughly 52 percent of opening-weekend revenue. The same site cites a 96 percent verified audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a perfect five-star PostTrak score from general audiences and families. In Australia, Rolling Stone Australia reports 'Encore' debuted at No.

Daps Magic and The Main Street Mouse both report 'Endgame's' cumulative worldwide gross now stands at $2.885 billion, leaving it just $39 million behind 'Avatar,' the all-time global box-office leader held by Disney's 20th Century Studios. The same outlets report the weekend pushed Marvel Studios past $35 billion lifetime — $35.075 billion across 38 films — which they describe as making the MCU the most successful film franchise in history. If 'Encore' keeps playing in international markets, that $39 million gap is closing fast.

Gross's framing, via The Source, treats the re-release as an effective way to build early word-of-mouth ahead of 'Avengers: Doomsday,' which arrives December 18, 2026. The four new scenes — Loki interrupting Steve and Peggy, an incursion at the TVA, Doom collecting Banner, and a mask being forged — were covered by this feed previously; what matters here is that the hook worked commercially. Deadline notes the extended cut, released September 25, added four minutes to the original three-hour-one-minute runtime. Netflix Junkie also reports a 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' reissue with extra footage is now in the works.

Watch two clocks. First, whether 'Encore's' international legs close the $39 million gap to 'Avatar' — The Main Street Mouse reports the record is 'absolutely still within reach' if overseas performance continues. Second, presales: Rolling Stone Australia reports 'Avengers: Doomsday' generated more than $1 million in Australian ticket presales within 24 hours, the country's biggest opening-day presale this year and its highest 24-hour result in five years. Note one wrinkle: Rolling Stone Australia pegs the 'Encore' global figure at US$68 million, lower than the $86 million reported elsewhere, so the final worldwide total may shift as studios reconcile estimates.