‘Avengers Endgame: Encore’ Box Office Return Beats Pattinson, Pitt

Avengers: Endgame looks to make a heroic return to the box office during a crowded frame that sees Resident Evil still carrying bite in its second week.

Marvel Studios‘ 2019 blockbuster heads back to 3,060 North American screens with Avengers Endgame: Encore, which grossed around $11.2 million on Friday, including Thursday previews, and is expected to open at the top of the domestic chart with $26 million. Disney’s rerelease includes an exclusive look at footage from Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday, set to hit theaters Dec. 18.

During its initial run, Joe and Anthony Russo’s Endgame launched in April 2019 to a record-setting opening weekend of $1.2 billion globally. It went on to claim No. 2 on the all-time worldwide chart with a total run of $2.7 billion.

Sony’s Resident Evil still has teeth at second place with $6.9 million on Friday as it looks to collect $23.5 million domestically in its sophomore frame. Zach Cregger’s reboot of the video game property is set to decline around 60 percent to bring its North American sum to $103.6 million.

Robert Pattinson stars as journalist Chris Hansen in A24’s Primetime, which collected around $8.4 million on Friday, including Thursday previews, to eye roughly $20.5 million from 2,800 North American theaters. Merritt Wever, Skyler Gisondo and Phoebe Bridgers also star in director Lance Oppenheim’s feature that has a $15 million production budget and holds an 87 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, chief film critic David Rooney called it a “peak Sleaze TV rerun, for whoever wants it.”

Starring Brad Pitt as a Special Forces officer stranded with his combat dog in the wilderness, Paramount Pictures’ Heart of the Beast notched $7.4 million on Friday, including previews, and is expected to gross around $20 million domestically for the weekend from 3,400 North American locations. Carrying an $82 million production budget, director David Ayer’s movie stands at an 87 score from Rotten Tomatoes reviewers. THR critic Frank Scheck wrote that it “packs a surprising emotional punch.”

Rounding out the top five is DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island, with the Universal Pictures release expected to scoop up around $11.5 million domestically for the weekend after bringing in $4.3 million on Friday, including Thursday previews and other advance screenings. With a budget of $80 million, the film focuses on two friends magically transported to an island rooted in Philippine mythology. Featuring the voices of H.E.R., Liza Soberano and Dave Franco, Forgotten Island holds a 94 percent critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Scheck writing for THR that it is “an exciting original.”

More to come.