Gal Balaban
It’s another massive, unpredictable weekend at the box office as Disney’s strategic re-release of Avengers: Endgame (Encore) pulls off a surprise maneuver, clawing its way back to the top of the charts with an estimated $26 million domestic weekend ($86 million globally) ahead of the upcoming wave of autumn blockbusters such as Digger and Street Fighter. The superhero blockbuster is already the second highest-grossing movie of all time, looking to reclaim the top title from Avatar, which de-throned Endgame after a 2022 re-release. Endgame Encore added four new scenes at the film’s end to tease the upcoming release of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday, which hits theaters on December 18.
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil didn’t go down without a fight this weekend, though. After stunning the industry with its record-shattering debut last week, the R-rated horror reboot posted a solid $23.3 million sophomore frame. That brings its domestic total past the coveted $100 million milestone to a terrific $103.4 million, cementing its status as a historic win for video game adaptations and proving its box office legs are holding up brilliantly against a crowded late-September frame. The movie, from Barbarian and Weapons director Cregger, has received rave reviews and is considered the best film of the entire franchise.
The weekend also saw a wave of fresh heavyweight debuts. Paramount’s survival thriller Heart of the Beast opened strongly in third place with $20 million, right alongside A24’s true-crime television-inspired drama Primetime, which pulled in an impressive $19.2 million to mark one of the studio’s best openings to date. Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation injected some family-friendly fantasy into the mix with Forgotten Island, anchoring fifth place with a $12.8 million start. Despite an underwhelming opening, the film has fantastic word-of-mouth from critics and audiences, which could boost the family film’s longer life across future weekends over its larger theatrical run.
As September wraps up and we edge closer to the heart of awards season and major fall festival fallouts, the box office is proving that audience appetite for the theatrical experience remains intensely resilient across multiple genres and demographics, while the hype for December’s Avengers: Doomsday is ever-strong.
Here is a breakdown of the weekend’s top 10 strongest films at the box office:
1. Avengers: Endgame Encore (Disney): $26.0M – 3,060 theatres
2. Resident Evil (Sony): $23.3M – 3,684 theatres
3. Heart of the Beast (Paramount): $20.0M – 3,120 theatres
4. Primetime (A24): $19.2M – 2,850 theatres
5. Forgotten Island (Universal/DreamWorks): $12.8M – 3,210 theatres
6. Practical Magic 2 (Warner Bros): $5.4M – 3,500 theatres
7. Spider-Man: Brand New Day (Sony): $4.1M – 2,400 theatres
8. The Odyssey (Universal): $3.7M – 1,400 theatres
9. Coyote vs. Acme (Ketchup Entertainment): $1.9M – 2,100 theatres
10. Daniel and the Fiery Furnace (Emick): $1.5M – 1,350 theatres
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