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‘Avengers: Endgame Encore’ Officially Outmuscles ‘Revenge of the Sith’ in the Re-Release Record Books

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Re-releases rarely make box office headlines, but ‘Avengers: Endgame Encore‘ just turned a nostalgic reissue into a genuine event. Disney and Marvel Studios brought the 2019 blockbuster back to 3,060 theaters, sweetened with about 4 minutes of new footage from the Russo brothers’ upcoming ‘Avengers: Doomsday’. The strategy was designed to build anticipation for December, and it clearly worked.

Expectations were already sky-high heading into the weekend. Tracking showed the Encore racked up nearly $15 million in North American presales, which one box office tracker called the highest ever for a re-release. Thursday previews then came in at $3.8 million, ahead of the $3.4 million previews for last year’s ‘Revenge of the Sith’ reissue.

Once the dust settled, the weekend actuals confirmed the Avengers’ victory over the Sith. According to box office analyst Luiz Fernando, ‘Endgame Encore’ grossed $26.1 million, making history with the third-biggest reopening weekend of all time for a re-release.

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That total edges past the $25.5 million debut of last year’s ‘Revenge of the Sith’ re-release. Only 2 reissues still sit ahead of it: the 2011 3D re-release of ‘The Lion King’ at $30.2 million and the 1997 return of ‘A New Hope’ at $35.9 million.

The strong weekend also pushed ‘Endgame’ to a staggering $884.5 million lifetime domestic total. The Encore didn’t just set a reissue milestone; it topped the entire box office. It became the first re-release since ‘The Lion King’ (3D) in 2011 to claim the No. 1 spot.

The weekend broke down to $11.2 million on Friday, $8.6 million on Saturday, and $6.2 million on Sunday. Audiences were thrilled with what they saw, too, giving the film a 91% positive score on Screen Engine’s PostTrak survey.

It also fended off real competition. Sony’s ‘Resident Evil’ took second place with $23.3 million in its second weekend, while the Encore outgrossed brand-new films starring Brad Pitt and Robert Pattinson.

The worldwide picture is even more impressive. The Encore added $60 million internationally for an $86 million global weekend, the second-biggest worldwide re-release opening ever behind only ‘Titanic 3D’ in 2012.

That haul lifted the film’s lifetime global gross to $2.88 billion. Industry newsletter publisher David A. Gross noted that re-releases rarely earn more than $10 million, calling the effort an effective marketing exercise for building early word of mouth.

The broader box office benefited too. Total weekend ticket sales hit about $122.3 million, marking the second-highest-grossing late September frame on record. Rentrak also noted the overall weekend was up 60.7% compared with the same weekend last year.

And unlike ‘Revenge of the Sith’, which played for just 1 week, the Encore has no set end date for its fall run. That means the numbers could keep climbing in the weeks ahead. For Marvel, the real prize lies in December.

The new scenes feature Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, all designed to bridge ‘Endgame’ into the next chapter. If audiences are this eager to revisit a 7-year-old film just for a few new minutes, the hype for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ on December 18 is clearly off the charts.

Do you think Avengers: Endgame Encore deserved to beat Revenge of the Sith in the re-release box office battle?

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