‘Avengers: Endgame’ Re-Release Approaches Historic Record After Strong Friday Opening

Laura Bais
Avengers Endgame A Force The Marvels
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Marvel’s decision to bring ‘Avengers: Endgame’ back to theaters has generated significant box office buzz, with the re-release consistently exceeding expectations at every turn. What began with a robust Thursday preview has translated into a genuinely competitive opening day, setting the stage for a showdown against one of the most significant re-release benchmarks in modern box office history.

That benchmark is held by ‘Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,’ whose 2025 20th anniversary re-release serves as the primary comparison for Marvel’s theatrical return. Given the competitive nature of this comparison, industry experts are closely monitoring every new data point as the weekend unfolds.

‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ grossed $11.2 million on its Friday reopening day, according to box office analyst Luiz Fernando, which includes $3.8 million from Thursday previews. This total fell just short of ‘Revenge of the Sith’s $11.4 million opening day, although Fernando noted that the Star Wars re-release had higher previews the night before, making ‘Endgame’s overall Friday performance somewhat more front-loaded.

With Friday’s figures in, Fernando projects a three-day opening weekend total between $22 million and $25 million for the re-release. This range would position ‘Endgame Encore’ among the five largest reopening weekends ever recorded for a theatrical reissue, placing it alongside two other notable comparisons: ‘Revenge of the Sith’s $25.5 million 2025 rerelease and the 2012 3D reissue of ‘The Phantom Menace,’ which earned $22.5 million.

Such company places ‘Endgame’ in rare territory. The film would join ‘The Lion King’s’ $30.2 million 2011 3D re-release and ‘A New Hope’s’ $35.9 million 1997 rerelease among the biggest reopening weekends of all time, while comfortably surpassing both the $17.3 million haul from ‘Titanic’s’ 2012 15th anniversary re-release and ‘Avatar’s’ more modest $10.5 million return in 2022.

Deadline’s weekend estimates have similarly painted a strong picture, projecting the re-release could ultimately land between $23 million and $26 million domestically across 3,060 theaters, a range that would elevate the film’s overall lifetime domestic total to as high as $884.3 million by the end of the weekend.

Screenshot 2026 09 24 at 11 24 57 Avengers Endgame Rotten Tomatoes

The re-release is not happening in isolation. This weekend has turned into an unusually strong late-September period overall, with four different films tracking toward $20 million or more individually, a rare achievement for this time of year, which typically sees softer turnout. Sony’s ‘Resident Evil’ remains a strong competitor in its second weekend, while newcomers ‘Primetime’ and ‘Heart of the Beast’ are also making solid debuts.

Despite the competition, ‘Endgame’s’ consistent outperformance against its historical benchmarks indicates that Marvel’s strategy of pairing the re-release with exclusive ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ footage is resonating as intended. Whether the film will ultimately secure a top-five all-time reissue spot will depend on how Saturday and Sunday numbers unfold, but Friday’s results have already validated much of the pre-release excitement surrounding the rollout.

As the re-release also vies for ‘Avatar’s’ all-time global box office crown, every strong domestic and international data point carries added significance beyond just this weekend’s rankings.

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