Were you one of the diehard Marvel fans that caught the Avengers: Endgame re-release in theaters last weekend? Considering the new cut of the movie only managed to pull in a paltry $8.7 million, the odds suggest you probably weren’t. Obviously, this gross is a bit under expectations, and now it’s starting to look more and more likely that the mega-blockbuster won’t dethrone Avatar as the world’s highest grossing film anytime soon.
Jam-packed with six whole minutes of extra post-credits footage, this latest edition of Avengers: Endgame hasn’t exactly won over fans, with its unfinished Hulk effects and seconds-long Stan Lee memorial. In fact, it’s safe to say this is the first time the movie has suffered any fort of legitimate blowback at all, as the pic’s successes were all anyone could talk about for weeks following its initial theatrical run.
As of Sunday night, the three-hour epic has grossed $2.765 billion worldwide and is now officially less than $25 million shy of Avatar’s behemoth $2.788b box office intake. It’s very clear that the objective of this re-release was to push the film over the brink and dethrone James Cameron’s sci-fi epic from its number one highest-grossing spot, a title it’s held for nearly a decade. Prior to this weekend’s release, Endgame wasn’t expected to surpass this goal until Labor Day. Now, however, it may not hit it at all.
Marvel’s next surefire hit, Spider-Man: Far From Home, swings into theaters today, which will undoubtedly steal the superhero spotlight for the time being. If the trailers are anything to go by, Peter Parker’s latest solo pic will spend a large portion of its screen-time dealing with the aftermath of Endgame, so there’s always a chance a few moviegoers will want to experience a double feature, but who knows how much of a boost that’ll give either title.
Yet, for those who want to see Endgame take that number one spot, there’s still some hope. We know Marvel is expected to push the movie hard come awards season later this year, which will undoubtedly come with another repackaged re-release toward the Christmastime. This could be the only chance the movie has to dethrone Avatar, as fans would probably shell out a few more bucks to see it on the big screen once more once it’s been out theaters for a few months.
Will the House of Ideas actually pull this off though and take the number one spot? Only time will tell. If you want to help, however, you can check out the extended re-release of Avengers: Endgame in cinemas right now.