Seven years old and on Disney+, Avengers: Endgame is back at No. 1 — $39 million short of Avatar's record
Against the odds for a rerelease, Avengers Endgame: Encore has muscled back to No.1 and nudged Marvel past a hefty milestone.
Marvel are at it again. If you thought Avengers: Endgame had wrung every last penny from the box office, think again – their Encore re-release has just smashed a heap of records that most rereleases never get near, and all for a film that’s now seven years old and available on Disney+.
Marvel Studios have now hauled in $35.075 billion globally from 38 films.
An Encore to Remember
So, Avengers Endgame: Encore just rolled out in cinemas and hoovered up an estimated $86 million across its opening weekend worldwide. That’s $26 million in the US and another $60 million from other countries – figures straight from Deadline and Disney. That $86 million mark isn’t just good for a rerelease, it’s rare air: Disney reckon it’s the second-biggest global launch for a rerelease in history.
If you’re measuring against records, Star Wars’ 1997 special edition ($35.9 million) and The Lion King 3D in 2011 ($30.2 million) are still ahead for domestic rerelease starts, so Endgame: Encore sits in third for its opening weekend in the States. Over in the international column, only Titanic 3D’s $67 million debut in 2012 has gone bigger among rereleases. IMAX screens were particularly useful to Marvel here, contributing about $13.7 million of the total (with $9.7 million from outside the US and $4 million at home).
Read more: Why Robert Downey Jr. for Doctor Doom? The Russos say he was their first choice all along
The Global Spread
The reissue wasn’t shy about its scope: over 3,000 cinemas worldwide, including more than 1,300 of those ‘Infinity Vision’ screens Marvel cooked up to squeeze extra spectacle. Those giant screens alone generated roughly 52% of opening weekend cash. In terms of where it struck gold, China led the pack with a number one opening ($13.5 million), followed by the UK ($5.4 million), Mexico ($4.2 million), Italy ($2.6 million), and Brazil ($2.2 million). Korea gave them a strong second place finish for the Chuseok holidays, beaten out only by a homegrown film, The Assassin.
Disney are, predictably, over the moon. Here’s how their global distribution chief Andrew Cripps lit up the studio’s earnings call, pointing out just how many diehard fans are still out there – and that, in his words, 'it’s a seven-year-old film already available to anyone with Disney+.' That might be the only genuine surprise here; all that money for something the internet will hand you on a weeknight with a bag of crisps.
Where Does This Put Endgame?
If you’re ticking off milestones, Endgame’s total lifetime gross now sits at $2.885 billion worldwide, only $39 million behind Avatar for the all-time record. As much as Disney would love the top spot back, they’re not quite there – but it’s the closest they’ve been in years. Marvel Studios, for their part, have officially blasted past $35 billion in global box office from their 38-film run. Expect them to shout about that whenever anyone asks what’s next for superheroes.
It probably helps that the Encore version comes loaded with some new stuff for fans to pore over, not least 'exclusive footage' that leads straight into Avengers: Doomsday, due out 18 December. Joe and Anthony Russo are back to direct, with Robert Downey Jr. now in the role of Doctor Doom. Anthony Russo was keen to stress to the fans that the additions hadn’t tampered with Endgame itself, explaining at the preview,
‘We weren’t going to mess with what that movie is.’
If public opinion means anything, the Encore release has a 96% Verified Moviegoer rating on Rotten Tomatoes (across more than 2,500 reviews) and a glowing five-star average from PostTrak’s audience polling.