Disney and Marvel Studios’ Marvel Avengers: Endgame Encore came out of Thursday previews with $3.8 million and was tracking to open between $23 million and $26 million for the weekend. Playing in 3,060 theaters, the re-release was already on pace to be one of the weekend’s biggest draws before the first full day of business was even counted.
That is why the film is getting attention now: it was not just another title in the frame, but the weekend leader among new releases in Friday tracking. On Friday morning, the movie was estimated at $11 million for the day, and its projected run would put its lifetime cume as high as $884.3 million after the weekend. The comparison point is hard to miss. Avengers Endgame once held the domestic previews record at $60 million before Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived, and last year Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith made $3.4 million in previews for its re-release.
The wider box office picture was strong enough that four films were looking at more than $20 million each, a sign that moviegoing was holding up well in a year racing toward $10 billion. Robert Pattinson’s Primetime added $2.7 million in previews at 2,859 theaters, while Paramount’s Heart of the Beast made $2 million from showtimes last night and Monday Mystery screenings. Sony’s Resident Evil was projected to reach $22 million for the three-day weekend after a $6.5 million Friday.
That upbeat outlook came with a catch. A Nor’easter had the potential to disrupt theaters in the Northeast, from New Jersey up to Boston, and any power loss there could dent the final tally even if demand stayed strong elsewhere. The opening question for Marvel now is not whether Avengers Endgame: Encore found an audience; it clearly did. The question is how much of that audience shows up once the weekend’s weather risk is accounted for.
