‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ Beats ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and Roars Into Re-Release History
Re-releases are usually treated as nostalgia side dishes, a quick victory lap for a film that has long since left theaters. Box office analyst David A. Gross of FranchiseRe noted that re-releases rarely earn more than $10 million. That makes this weekend’s numbers for the ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ re-release hard to ignore.
The film has been available to watch at home for years, and it is now 7 years old. Disney and Marvel brought it back anyway, with new footage designed to build excitement for ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘, which opens on December 18. Reissuing a blockbuster this way is a marketing exercise, and it appears to be working.
The weekend actuals are now in, and they are even bigger than the estimates. According to box office analyst Luiz Fernando, ‘Endgame Encore’ grossed $26.1 million domestically, making it the third-biggest re-opening weekend of all time for a re-release. It edged past last year’s ‘Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith’ re-release, and the film’s U.S. lifetime total now stands at $884.5 million.
Weekend actuals made the #Avengers triumph over the Sith at US #BoxOffice even bigger, as #AvengersEndgameEncore reissue made HISTORY grossing 26.1M on #3 BIGGEST Re-Opening weekend of all time for a rerelease, with #Endgame beating #RevengeOfTheSith’s 25.5M re-release debut… pic.twitter.com/og4UWAEg96
— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) September 28, 2026
The two films still ahead of it are both legends. The 1997 special edition of ‘Star Wars’ opened to $35.9 million, and the 2011 3D re-release of ‘The Lion King’ opened to $30.2 million. Everything else, including ‘Revenge of the Sith’ at just over $25 million, now sits behind the Avengers.
The result came from 3,060 North American theaters and was enough to top the weekend box office. Globally, the re-release added $60 million overseas for a worldwide weekend haul of $86 million. It also opened at No. 1 in China with $13.5 million.
The extra material is a big part of the story. The Encore version includes new scenes and post-credit material tied to ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, and premium screens played a major role. IMAX and Infinity Vision screens combined for 60 percent of the weekend take, according to Deadline.
Those formats also carried more of the new material, with the IMAX and Infinity Vision version running about 6 minutes and 17 seconds of new footage and standard screenings about 2 minutes and 6 seconds. Infinity Vision is Disney’s new take on premium large formats, and ‘Endgame Encore’ is the first film released under it. That gave fans another reason to buy a ticket for a movie many already own.
Not every reaction was glowing. ComicBook.com described the response to the new scenes as generally lukewarm, though it said that has not stopped fans from buying tickets as they prepare for ‘Doomsday’. Audiences, however, gave the experience a strong grade, with PostTrak showing 91 percent positive.
The turnout skewed young, with viewers aged 18 to 34 making up two-thirds of ticket buyers. That is a promising sign for a franchise that is trying to hand off from its Infinity Saga heroes to a new generation of fans. It also suggests that the theatrical event still has pull, even for a movie sitting on people’s shelves.
Thursday previews pointed in the same direction. The re-release opened with $3.8 million in previews, ahead of the $3.4 million earned by ‘Revenge of the Sith’ last year, and Fernando highlighted it as the biggest Thursday preview haul ever for a re-release. Unlike the ‘Star Wars’ reissue, which played for only 1 week, the Encore has no set end date for its fall run.
Reassemble the team & relive the experience as Avengers Endgame: Encore returns to theaters September 25.
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) August 25, 2026
Tickets now available for IMAX and Infinity Vision screens: https://t.co/pZZ4PiOyQb pic.twitter.com/2wKSVG4FLz
The lifetime numbers are just as eye-catching. ‘Avengers: Endgame’ now sits at roughly $2.88 billion worldwide, within striking distance of the all-time record held by ‘Avatar’. Variety also reported that it became only the second movie ever to clear $2 billion at the international box office, and that it strengthened its position as the third-largest North American release of all time.
It will not catch ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ at home, since that film is the all-time domestic leader. Still, a healthy multi-week run could push ‘Endgame’ closer to the record. Meanwhile, ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ will reunite nearly all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and reintroduce Robert Downey Jr. as the villain Doctor Doom.
If the Encore is the appetizer, ‘Doomsday’ now has a lot to live up to. Fans clearly still love these characters, and this weekend proved they will pay for another look.
Did the Avengers: Endgame Encore re-release convince you to return to theaters?
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