A movie that first hit theaters in April 2019 just beat four brand-new releases. The Avengers Endgame Encore box office weekend is projected at about $26 million from 3,060 theaters, enough to put a seven-year-old Marvel movie at No. 1 in North America for the weekend of Sept. 25-27, 2026.
And it didn’t win a slow weekend, either. Industry estimates put the whole market around $123 million, which would make it the second-best late-September weekend ever. Here’s how a rerelease pulled it off, how the new movies really did, and what it all says about the fall box office.
Note: All weekend figures below are studio and industry estimates based on Friday and Saturday grosses, as reported by Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap. Final numbers typically land Monday and can move up or down.
Weekend Box Office Estimates: The Top 5 at a Glance
Here’s where the chart stood heading into Sunday, per the trade reports:
| Rank | Movie (Studio) | Theaters | 3-Day Estimate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Avengers Endgame: Encore (Disney/Marvel) | 3,060 | ~$24M-$26M | Rerelease; domestic lifetime ~$884M |
| 2 | Resident Evil (Sony) | 3,684 | ~$23.5M-$23.8M | Weekend 2, about -60%; cume ~$103.6M |
| 3/4 | Primetime (A24) | ~2,800-2,874 | ~$19M-$20.5M | Opening; $15M budget |
| 3/4 | Heart of the Beast (Paramount) | 3,435 | ~$20M | Opening; $82M net budget |
| 5 | Forgotten Island (Universal/DreamWorks) | 3,548 | ~$11.5M | Opening; $80M net budget |
The race for No. 3 is basically a coin flip. The Hollywood Reporter and TheWrap had Primetime slightly ahead at roughly $20.5 million, while Deadline’s Saturday update had Heart of the Beast at $20 million and Primetime at $19 million-$20 million. Expect the final order to be decided by Sunday’s actual ticket sales.
Why the Avengers Endgame Encore Box Office Win Isn’t a Fluke
Rereleases usually play like a fun bonus – a few million dollars from superfans. Encore is different, and the reasons are pretty clear once you look at what Disney actually put on screen.
1. It’s a Doomsday trailer you can only see in theaters
Encore comes with an exclusive look at Avengers: Doomsday, which opens Dec. 18. Deadline reported the package includes about four extra minutes of the Russo brothers’ upcoming movie, and TheWrap noted a modified ending plus new post-credit scenes designed to set up Doomsday. For Marvel fans, that turns a rewatch into a must-see event.
The hype was measurable before a single ticket was scanned. Deadline reported the Encore trailer drew 77 million views in its first 24 hours – a record for a rerelease trailer.
2. Premium screens drove the bulk of the money
Disney booked Encore into roughly 1,300 of its newly branded “Infinity Vision” premium large-format screens plus about 390 IMAX locations, per Deadline. Those pricier seats accounted for a massive 63% of the weekend take. Higher ticket prices on a movie whose production costs were paid off years ago is a very efficient way to make money.
3. The audience is young – and it loves this movie
According to PostTrak exit polling cited by Deadline, audiences gave Encore a 91% positive score, and moviegoers aged 18-34 made up 66% of the crowd. Many of those fans were kids or teens in 2019. For them, seeing Endgame on a giant screen again is a nostalgia trip, not a repeat.
Rerelease Economics: How a 7-Year-Old Movie Makes Money
Here’s the simple math behind why studios love a well-timed rerelease (this part is our analysis, not studio data):
- No production cost. The movie already exists. The main spending is marketing and distribution – and in this case, the marketing doubles as a Doomsday campaign.
- Built-in awareness. Endgame is the No. 2 movie of all time worldwide at about $2.799 billion, per Deadline, behind only Avatar at $2.92 billion. Nobody needs to be told what it is.
- Records to chase. Deadline reported a $124 million global gap between Endgame and Avatar heading into the weekend, with Disney waiting to see whether Endgame can close it before Doomsday arrives. TheWrap said this weekend brings Endgame’s domestic total to about $884 million.
On the Avengers Endgame Encore box office scorecard, the film also compares well to recent reissues. Its Thursday previews hit $3.8 million, ahead of the $3.4 million that last year’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith rerelease made in previews on its way to a $25.4 million opening, according to Deadline. The all-time rerelease opening record still belongs to the 1997 Star Wars special edition at $35.9 million, so Encore isn’t close to that – but it’s in the conversation.
One more difference: Revenge of the Sith played for a single week. Deadline reports Encore has no set end date, meaning it can keep collecting money through October.
If you want the backstory on what’s actually in the new cut, we broke it down in our earlier piece on Encore’s new footage and Disney’s Infinity Vision screens.
Resident Evil Holds Strong in Weekend 2
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot slid to No. 2 with an estimated $23.5 million to $23.8 million, down about 60% from its roughly $60 million opening. That’s a steep drop on paper, but it’s normal for a horror movie that had a huge, fan-driven first weekend – and it had to give up many of its IMAX and premium screens to Encore.
The bigger milestone: Resident Evil is expected to pass $100 million domestic this weekend, with Deadline projecting about $103.6 million. Deadline said that would make it the 19th movie of 2026 to cross $100 million in North America. Catch up on how it got here in our story on Resident Evil’s franchise-record opening.
Primetime vs. Heart of the Beast: Two Very Different Wins
Both of the weekend’s adult-skewing openers landed right around $20 million. But the money looks very different depending on the budget.
Primetime (A24)
Robert Pattinson stars as “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen in Lance Oppenheim’s take on the NBC show’s rise and fall. With a reported $15 million production budget, a $20 million opening is a clear win for A24. It also beat its pre-release tracking of $12 million-$16 million, per Deadline.
Audience reaction was more mixed. The film earned a B CinemaScore, and TheWrap reported Rotten Tomatoes scores of 87% from critics and 82% from audiences. Deadline noted that 18-34-year-olds made up about 80% of the crowd.
Heart of the Beast (Paramount)
Brad Pitt plays a Special Forces veteran stranded in the Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog in David Ayer’s survival thriller. Audiences loved it: an A- CinemaScore and, per TheWrap, 87% from critics and 95% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.
The catch is cost. The movie carries an $82 million net production budget, according to Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter. It pulled an older crowd – Deadline reported 31% of ticket buyers were over 55 – and those audiences tend to show up gradually. Strong word of mouth will need to carry it through October.
Forgotten Island Is Loved, But Under-Seen
DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island, from Puss in Boots: The Last Wish filmmakers Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado, is heading for about $11.5 million – below its $13 million-$15 million tracking. That’s a tough start for a film with an $80 million net budget.
The good news: families who went gave it an A CinemaScore, and critics are overwhelmingly positive. It’s also the only big family option until Warner Bros.’ animated The Cat in the Hat arrives Nov. 6, per Deadline, which gives it room to build.
What the Avengers Endgame Encore Box Office Run Means for Fall
Zoom out and this was a strong weekend for theaters overall. The estimated $123 million total would trail only 2015’s $137.8 million (when Hotel Transylvania 2 opened) among late-September frames, per Deadline. A year ago, the top new release was One Battle After Another with a $22 million opening.
Three takeaways stand out:
- Variety beats one mega-hit. Instead of one movie taking all the money, five films aimed at different audiences – Marvel fans, horror fans, Gen Z, older adults and families – all showed up at once.
- Premium screens are the new battleground. Encore and Resident Evil shared IMAX and premium large-format screens, and those auditoriums produced a huge share of the grosses.
- Expect more “event” rereleases. If Encore keeps playing, other studios will notice that a classic plus exclusive footage can top the chart.
The fall pipeline stays busy, too. Next weekend brings Warner Bros.’ Tom Cruise-led Digger and Amazon MGM’s Verity, starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson, per The Hollywood Reporter. For the bigger picture, see our guide to the fall 2026 movies that could rescue the post-summer box office.
The Bottom Line: Should You Go?
If you’re a Marvel fan, the Avengers Endgame Encore box office run tells you one thing: the Doomsday footage is worth seeing on the biggest screen you can find. Here’s how to make the most of it:
- Book premium formats early if you want IMAX or Infinity Vision – they’re driving most of the demand.
- Try a weekday showing for easier seats, since Encore has no announced end date.
- Don’t sleep on the originals. Heart of the Beast and Forgotten Island earned A-range CinemaScores and need word of mouth to survive.
Final weekend numbers arrive Monday. Bookmark USA One News for the updated chart – and for everything leading up to Avengers: Doomsday on Dec. 18.
