The Big Difference Between Avatar & Avengers: Endgame’s Re-Releases

Avengers: Endgame is being re-released in theaters on June 28th to help the Marvel blockbuster beat James Cameron’s Avatar at the box office. As of now, Endgame is only $38.4 million short of becoming the highest grossing film of all time. Avatar also had a second theatrical release in 2010, less than a year after its initial theatrical release. However, while some fans are comparing Avengers: Endgame to Avatar, there are clear differences in how the two re-releases compare to the original films.

Avatar‘s second theatrical release was not an attempt to snag the title of the highest grossing film of all time ‒ it had already dethroned Titanic and become the first film to make over $2 billion at the box office when its original theatrical release came to a close. Instead, Avatar‘s re-release came eight months after its theatrical debut, and over four months after its release on DVD and Blu-ray.

Additionally, the Avatar re-release included nine minutes of new content with full CGI effects, which director James Cameron estimated cost around $1 million per minute to create. Because Avatar was a film that fans wanted to experience on the big screen, the re-release allowed film lovers to enjoy the new content in theaters. Ultimately, the re-release earned a total of $33.2 million, a relatively small amount compared to the original theatrical run.

That figure, however, is surprisingly close to the $38.4 million that Endgame needs to generate in order to take the number one spot from Avatar, so it’s easy to see why Disney and Marvel executives would think that a re-release would be a strong strategy to make up the difference between the two films. Disney’s decision to re-release the film with additional content two months after its initial theatrical release is a strategy to ensure that Endgame is able to beat Avatar.

The timing of the re-release also dovetails with release of Spider-Man: Far from Home, which is set to come out a week after Endgame‘s second run begins. Since the stories of the two films are closely related, fans can re-watch Endgame before they return to the theaters to see Spider-Man’s latest adventures. As a result, one of the re-release’s new features is a sneak peek at the upcoming Spider-Man film.

In addition to the Spidey-related content, Endgame will include an “unfinished deleted scene” and a message from director Anthony Russo after the credits. Neither the creative team or the studio has confirmed what the deleted scene will be, but it’s possible that it could be Tony Stark seeing his daughter in the Soul World. While Avatar included the nine minutes of CGI content throughout the film, all of the new content for Endgame‘s re-release will occur after the credits. Disney is betting that this new content at the end of the film will be enough to convince fans to see Endgame again ‒ and hopefully make it the highest grossing film of all time.

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