Seven Years Later, AVENGERS: ENDGAME Is the No. 1 Movie in America — Again

Tony Stark may have snapped Thanos out of existence in 2019, but apparently nobody told AVENGERS: ENDGAME that its theatrical run was supposed to be over.

Seven years after Earth's Mightiest Heroes assembled for what became one of the biggest movies in history, Marvel Studios put AVENGERS: ENDGAME back into theaters this weekend as AVENGERS ENDGAME: ENCORE. And audiences promptly put it back where it spent plenty of time the first time around: at the top of the box office.

According to studio estimates reported Sunday, ENDGAME: ENCORE earned $26 million from 3,060 theaters in the United States and Canada, beating not only last week's champion RESIDENT EVIL, which earned another $23.3 million, but three new wide releases. Brad Pitt's HEART OF THE BEAST opened with an estimated $20 million, Robert Pattinson's PRIMETIME followed with $19.2 million, and DreamWorks Animation's FORGOTTEN ISLAND debuted with $12.8 million.

That's an impressive victory lap for a movie that has been readily available to watch at home for years.

And audiences overseas were apparently feeling just as nostalgic.

Disney reports that ENDGAME: ENCORE added another $60 million internationally, giving the rerelease an estimated $86 million worldwide weekend. The company calls it the second-highest global debut ever for a theatrical rerelease.

Domestically, the Associated Press reports that only two rereleases have opened bigger: STAR WARS in 1997, with $35.9 million, and THE LION KING in 2011, with $30.2 million.

Of course, calling ENCORE simply a "rerelease" doesn't quite tell the whole story.

Marvel isn't asking audiences to buy another ticket merely to watch the same three-hour movie on a big screen. ENCORE includes new material connecting the conclusion of the Infinity Saga to December's AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY. Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans open the presentation with a message to fans, and additional material has been added to the end credits.

We're not going to spoil what Marvel added here. Suffice it to say these aren't deleted scenes swept off the cutting-room floor seven years ago and restored for curiosity's sake. Marvel Studios has described the new footage as material that directly sets up DOOMSDAY.

Director Anthony Russo, who again teams with his brother Joe for AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY, told Marvel that the filmmakers didn't want to tamper with what ENDGAME already was. Instead, the additions expand upon the Avengers story while creating a path toward what comes next.

That's particularly interesting because what comes next includes a very familiar face in a decidedly unfamiliar role.

Robert Downey Jr. returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY, but Tony Stark isn't coming with him. This time Downey is Victor von Doom -- Doctor Doom -- when the film arrives in theaters December 18.

That makes ENCORE an unusual piece of cinematic marketing. Marvel has effectively attached part of the setup for its next Avengers movie to a movie audiences already paid to see seven years ago -- and audiences responded by making that old movie the biggest movie in America this weekend.

There's another experiment hiding inside the numbers as well.

More than 1,300 of the theaters showing ENCORE are part of Disney's new Infinity Vision program, a premium-theater certification emphasizing large screens, laser projection and upgraded audio. Disney says Infinity Vision locations accounted for approximately 52 percent of the movie's opening-weekend gross. The format will also be used when DOOMSDAY arrives in December.

Whatever brought audiences back -- nostalgia, the chance to experience the climactic battle against Thanos on a theater screen again, curiosity about the new DOOMSDAY material, or some combination of all three -- Marvel couldn't have asked for a much better result.

The rerelease pushes AVENGERS: ENDGAME's lifetime worldwide gross to approximately $2.885 billion, according to Disney, putting it within roughly $39 million of AVATAR. The weekend also pushed Marvel Studios itself beyond $35 billion in worldwide theatrical grosses across 38 films.

And this wasn't an old blockbuster sneaking into first place during a deserted weekend.

Three new wide releases arrived in theaters, RESIDENT EVIL remained a strong competitor in its second weekend, and overall domestic ticket sales were up 58.5 percent from the corresponding weekend last year, according to figures reported by the Associated Press.

Seven years ago, AVENGERS: ENDGAME asked audiences to assemble for the end of an era.

In 2026, Marvel asked them to assemble one more time before DOOMSDAY.

Apparently, they didn't have to ask twice.