‘Avengers Endgame: Encore’ Takes Aim at ‘Avatar’ as the Race for the All-Time Box Office Crown Reignites
The battle for the all-time box office crown is officially back on, and ‘Avengers Endgame: Encore‘ is leading the charge. When Marvel’s 2019 blockbuster first hit theaters, it shattered records left and right, including a then-record $156.7 million opening day in North America and a $107 million opening day in China, according to Variety.
That historic run pushed ‘Endgame’ to $2.799 billion worldwide, briefly making it the highest-grossing film ever. But ‘Avatar’ reclaimed the top spot thanks to its re-releases, and SuperHeroHype, citing Box Office Mojo, puts James Cameron’s film at $2.9237 billion after all of its runs.
The difference between the 2 titles comes down to exactly $124.3 million. That is the mountain ‘Endgame’ has to climb, and a new wave of social media buzz is now asking whether the Encore can actually do it.
On September 24, the X account Box Office Forecast declared the race for the all-time crown back on, sharing its own day-1 comparisons for France, Indonesia, and South Korea. By its estimates, the Encore’s opening days reached roughly 120%, 300%, and 110% of the 2022 ‘Avatar’ re-release in those markets, though they represent only about 10%, 15%, and 5% of what ‘Endgame’ earned in its original debut.
🚨Box Office Alert🚨 The race for the ALL-TIME BOX OFFICE crown is back on! Avengers Endgame Encore begins its journey to chase down Avatar and reclaim the🥇spot! 📊 Day-1 box office comparisons: 🆚 Avatar Re-release (2022) 🇫🇷~120%✅|🇮🇩~300%✅|🇰🇷~110%✅ 🆚 Avengers Endgame 🇫🇷~10%❌|🇮🇩~15%❌|🇰🇷~5%❌ ~$125M to make history, can the Avengers pull it off? #avengers #avengersendgame #mcu
— Box Office Forecast 🎬 (@BoxOfficeFcst) September 24, 2026
The account rounded the target to about $125 million to make history. The takeaway is clear: the Encore is outpacing ‘Avatar’s own comeback in several markets, but it’s playing on a much smaller scale than the original phenomenon.
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
Some of the international numbers are genuinely eye-catching. In Indonesia, ticketing platform Cinepoint reported 131,692 admissions on the first day, enough for ‘Endgame’ to reclaim the country’s all-time admissions record from local comedy ‘Agak Laen: Menyala Pantiku!’.
The film opened in South Korea on September 23, where it already holds the record as the highest-grossing foreign film with 13.97 million viewers. India is also shaping up as a key market, with Fiction Horizon reporting more than 100,000 advance tickets sold nationally ahead of opening day.
China could be the biggest wildcard. Presales there reached $965,000 after just 2 days, beating the comparable totals for ‘The Batman’ and ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, and industry trackers have floated a global opening north of $50 million.
The Encore opens in North America on September 25, with trackers projecting $25 million to $28 million for the weekend. That would put it in contention for the unadjusted re-release record of $30.2 million held by Disney’s 3D reissue of ‘The Lion King’.
Even so, SuperHeroHype pointed out that a domestic haul in that range would still leave ‘Endgame’ roughly $96 million to $99 million short. The film will need a powerful international run to have any real shot at the crown.
Marvel has given fans plenty of reasons to return. The Encore includes 4 minutes of bonus footage, a new post-credits scene, and an exclusive first look at ‘Avengers: Doomsday’, which arrives on December 18 with Robert Downey Jr. back as Doctor Doom.
The re-release plays in Infinity Vision-certified theaters, and the Korean trailer even closed with the promise that the story continues. For many viewers, the extra ‘Doomsday’ footage may matter more than the record chase.
Whether it catches ‘Avatar’ or not, the Encore has already proven that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes still pack theaters 7 years later. The coming weeks will reveal whether that momentum is strong enough to rewrite box office history once again.
Do you think Avengers: Endgame Encore can reclaim the all-time box office crown from Avatar?
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