The top five films all cleared $10 million this weekend, but the headline belongs to a reissue, not a new title. Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Endgame Encore” opened to $26 million domestically and $86 million worldwide, enough to lead the global chart.
Encore tops a crowded field
The reissue’s domestic number landed just above the $25.5 million that “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” grossed in its 20th anniversary re-release last year. It pushes “Endgame” to lifetime totals of $884 million domestic and $2.88 billion worldwide.
Sony’s “Resident Evil” took second place with $23.3 million in its second weekend, a 61% drop that brings its domestic cume to $103.4 million. The Marvel reissue likely pulled some of the same audience, but the horror title is still a solid theatrical success.
New releases split by budget
The rest of the top five is a useful study in unit economics. A24’s “Primetime” carries a reported $15 million production budget before marketing, far below the $80 million production spends behind Paramount’s “Heart of the Beast” and Universal/DreamWorks’ “Forgotten Island.” The smaller spend gives A24 a much clearer path to theatrical profit.
- “Heart of the Beast”: $20 million domestic / $50 million global opening from 3,435 locations; A- CinemaScore.
- “Primetime”: $19.1 million opening from 2,874 screens; B+ CinemaScore; 82% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
- “Forgotten Island”: $12.8 million domestic from 3,548 locations and $7.8 million from 35 overseas markets; A CinemaScore.
“Heart of the Beast” narrowly leads the new titles, though its path depends on holding an older, predominantly rural audience. “Primetime” is skewing young: 69% of its audience is under 30, a signal of Robert Pattinson’s draw and A24’s ability to cultivate young cinephiles. The film, directed by Lance Oppenheim, dramatizes the downfall of NBC’s “To Catch a Predator.”
The original animation problem
“Forgotten Island” has excellent word-of-mouth scores — 81% definite recommend and 96% overall positive on PostTrak — but the weakest commercial start. TheWrap notes that only an unusually large hold, in the vein of an “Obsession”-sized multiple, would take it much beyond break-even. The film has more overseas markets to open, but its $1.5 million from the Philippines remains its strongest cultural fit so far.
For media planners and entertainment marketers, the weekend makes the reissue economy hard to ignore: known IP can out-gross new theatrical bets, while strong reviews alone are not enough to fix demand for original animation.
Source: TheWrap
