“Avengers: Endgame Encore” leads with $11 million on Friday — four films heading toward $20M+ weekends

“Avengers: Endgame: Encore”, the Disney and Marvel Studios re-release with four minutes of additional deleted scenes tied to “Avengers: Doomsday”, opened the weekend at number one at the North American box office.

According to the latest Deadline data, the three-hour film earned about $11 million on Friday — including previews — in 3,060 theaters and is projected to close the weekend with $23 to $26 million. If the best-case scenario materializes, the entire lifetime total of “Endgame” in America will reach $884.3 million.

In second place is Sony and Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil”, which in its second week earned $6.5 million on Friday and is projected to close the weekend with about $22 million — a 63% drop — pushing the U.S. total above $102 million.

Vying for third place are Paramount’s “Heart of the Beast” with Brad Pitt and A24’s “Primetime” with Robert Pattinson. “Heart of the Beast” earned $7.5 million on Friday in 3,435 theaters and is projected at about $20.5 million for the weekend. “Primetime” earned about $8.5 million on Friday, and optimists hope it will cross the $20 million mark — a huge success for a production that cost only $15 million net.

This will be the strongest late-September weekend since 2018. The only question mark is the powerful storm approaching the U.S. Northeast, where possible cinema closures could affect the final numbers.