Seven and a half years after its original blockbuster run, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame is back on top of the domestic box office.
The special Endgame Encore re-release opened with $26 million domestically and $86 million worldwide, helping push the overall weekend box office to $124 million. That was 66% higher than the comparable weekend last year and marked the second straight weekend in which 2026 outpaced 2025.
Disney is using the re-release to reconnect audiences with the end of the Infinity Saga while building momentum for Avengers: Doomsday, which is scheduled to open Dec. 18. The Encore presentation includes a custom introduction, new footage and a post-credits sequence, with additional material reserved for IMAX and Disney’s new Infinity Vision premium-format auditoriums.
Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Endgame, return for Doomsday, while Robert Downey Jr. comes back to the MCU as Doctor Doom.
The $26 million opening also immediately puts Endgame Encore among the biggest domestic re-releases on record. The 1997 reissue of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope remains the benchmark with a $35.9 million opening, while The Lion King opened to $30.2 million in 2011.
Sony’s Resident Evil held second place with $23.3 million in its sophomore frame, down 61% from its opening weekend. The reboot has now earned $103.5 million domestically and $196.5 million worldwide after 10 days, already surpassing the domestic totals of every previous installment in the franchise, even after inflation adjustments. The film has not yet opened in China, where Resident Evil: The Final Chapter earned $161.5 million in 2017.
Paramount’s Heart of the Beast debuted in third with $20 million domestic and $50.1 million worldwide. Directed by David Ayer and starring Brad Pitt, the survival thriller follows former Special Forces soldier James Belmont after his plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, leaving him stranded with his retired combat dog, Odin. J.K. Simmons and Anna Lambe co-star.
REELated:
‘Resident Evil’ scares up $60M debut
The canine performance may be the movie’s secret weapon. Uber, a former search-and-rescue dog, plays Odin, with three of his sons handling different physical tasks, including swimming, running, and work at height. Pitt even joked that Uber was “number one on the call sheet.” The film carries an estimated $82 million production budget, making its ability to hold in the coming weeks especially important.
A24’s Primetime opened in fourth with $19.2 million. The film dramatizes the making of NBC’s To Catch a Predator, with Robert Pattinson playing Chris Hansen and Lance Oppenheim making his narrative feature directing debut. The movie mixes real names with fictionalized characters and has already drawn criticism from Hansen, who did not participate in the production and has objected to the film’s portrayal of him.
With a reported $15 million production budget, Primetime enters the market from a much more favorable financial position than most of the weekend’s wide releases.
Rounding out the top five, Universal and DreamWorks’ Forgotten Island opened with $12.8 million domestically and $20.6 million worldwide. The animated fantasy, directed by Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado, draws on Filipino folklore and follows two lifelong friends who enter the mythical island of Nakali. H.E.R., Liza Soberano, Lea Salonga, Dave Franco, Dolly de Leon, Jenny Slate and Manny Jacinto lead the voice cast.
Despite strong early audience and critic scores in the report, Forgotten Island faces a tougher financial road. With an estimated $80 million production budget and a $12.8 million opening, the film ranks among DreamWorks’ lower theatrical debuts and will need staying power as more wide releases enter the market.
Year to date through Sept. 24, the domestic box office stands at $7.51 billion, up 19% from the comparable period in 2025, while estimated attendance is up 14%. Compared with 2019, however, attendance remains 30% lower.
For Disney, the weekend offered the best of both worlds: another $26 million from a movie audiences already know by heart, and a three-month head start on selling them the next Avengers chapter.
