'Avengers Endgame: Encore' beats new movies with big box office debut

Earth's mightiest heroes don't need a new movie to top the box office.

"Avengers Endgame: Encore," a re-release of Marvel's 2019 blockbuster "Avengers: Endgame" featuring about four minutes of new scenes, was No. 1 at the North American box office this weekend, beating out brand new films starring Brad Pitt and Robert Pattinson.

"Endgame: Encore" debuted with a mighty $26 million domestically, according to estimates from Rentrak released on Sunday, Sept. 27.

That's one of the biggest opening weekends ever for a reissue of an older movie. According to Deadline, it's behind only the 1997 re-release of "Star Wars," which opened with $35.9 million, and the 2011 3D re-release of "The Lion King," which had a $30.2 million debut, not adjusted for inflation.

But "Endgame: Encore" topped last year's 20th anniversary re-release of "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" and its $25.2 million opening.

"Endgame" originally grossed a jaw-dropping $357 million in its opening at the domestic box office in 2019. That was enough to hold the record for the biggest U.S. opening weekend of all time until this summer, when "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" topped it with $360 million.

"Endgame: Encore" was sold not only as a way to revisit the 2019 hit on the big screen, but also as a chance to get a sneak peek at the upcoming "Avengers: Doomsday" (in theaters Dec. 18). The re-release includes four new scenes added to the end of the film and inserted into the credits, tying "Endgame" into "Doomsday." One of the scenes even changes the ending of "Endgame" by retroactively turning it into a cliffhanger setting up "Doomsday."

Depending on how well "Encore" continues to perform, it's possible the re-release could allow "Endgame" to overtake "Avatar" as the highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide, not adjusted for inflation. James Cameron's 2009 sci-fi epic currently holds the crown with $2.92 billion, while "Endgame" is now creeping up on his record with $2.885 billion. "Endgame" originally beat the "Avatar" record, and became the No. 1 film of all time worldwide, upon its initial release in 2019, but "Avatar" took back the title after a 2021 re-release.

The re-release success certainly bodes well for "Avengers: Doomsday," which sees filmmaking duo Anthony and Joe Russo returning as directors for their first Marvel flick since "Endgame." Robert Downey Jr. is also back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in "Doomsday" for the first time since "Endgame," now as the villain Doctor Doom. Box office expectations for "Doomsday" were already sky high after Marvel's "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" became the highest-grossing movie of all time in North American theaters.

Coming in at No. 2 at the box office was the hit video-game movie "Resident Evil," which collected another $23 million in its second weekend to bring its total domestic haul to an impressive $103 million. The Zach Cregger horror reboot was pitched as being more faithful to the spirit of the video games than the prior movies starring Milla Jovovich, and it's now the highest-grossing "Resident Evil" movie ever made, by far. No prior entry in the franchise grossed more than $60 million.

The new Pitt survival thriller "Heart of the Beast" grossed $20 million in its domestic debut, putting it No. 3 for the weekend, and at No. 4 was "Primetime." Starring Pattinson as "To Catch a Predator" host Chris Hansen, "Primetime" opened with $19 million. Even though that was only enough to finish No. 4, it was still a strong showing, considering the movie cost a reported $15 million to make, per Variety.

All in all, it was a busier than usual three days at the multiplex for this particular weekend: Rentrak notes the overall weekend box office was up 60.7% from the comparable weekend last year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Avengers Endgame: Encore' beats new movies with big box office debut