Avengers: Endgame has reclaimed the top spot on the list of highest-grossing films of all time at the global box office, seven years after its initial release.
According to data from Box Office Mojo on October 6th, the film's total global box office revenue has surpassed US$2.925 billion (approximately over 76 trillion VND).
This figure has surpassed the record of $2.92371 billion USD held by Avatar for the past five years. Avengers: Endgame has reclaimed the number one spot, five years after Avatar rose to the top in 2021.
The box office success of the re-release, Avengers: Endgame Encore, played a decisive role in this shift in the landscape. Avengers: Endgame Encore grossed over $126 million USD (approximately 3.3 trillion VND) globally. Notably, the film topped the global box office in its opening week and recorded the second-highest opening weekend revenue in history for a re-release.
Avengers: Endgame Encore , released on September 23rd, brought the 2019 film Avengers: Endgame back to the big screen. Set on Earth with only half of humanity remaining, the film depicts the Avengers' journey back in time to prepare for a decisive battle to save the world . This re-release includes new footage that connects to Avengers: Doomsday , scheduled for release in December 2026.
According to box office analyst David A. Gross, re-released films rarely gross over $10 million. Avengers: Endgame has been available on streaming platforms for years, yet it still attracts more viewers than many new films. This shows that Hollywood's intellectual property exploitation machine shows no signs of slowing down. It also suggests that the future of movie-going habits may feel more familiar than people imagined at the beginning of the summer.
In 2019, when Avengers: Endgame first dominated the box office, nine films had grossed over $1 billion globally. All of them were sequels, remakes, or spin-offs based on existing IPs. Since then, Hollywood has struggled to replicate that success. The pandemic and the streaming war have altered audience viewing habits. Large-scale projects from once-popular franchises like Marvel, DC, and most recently Star Wars, have failed to achieve the critical or commercial success of the previous decade.
Marvel, the biggest franchise of the 2010s, has seen a dramatic decline following Avengers: Endgame . Before the pandemic, the studio's blockbusters regularly reached or surpassed the $1 billion mark. Between 2020 and this summer, only two Marvel films crossed this milestone: Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine . Last year, the combined revenue of Captain America: Brave New World , Thunderbolts , and The Fantastic Four: First Steps was only about $1.3 billion. This is less than half the individual revenue of Avengers: Endgame.
For audiences eager for Hollywood to invest in fresh ideas, this summer initially seemed like a turning point. Two YouTube content creators transitioned into directing, creating major breakthroughs. Curry Barker's Obsession , made with a budget under $1 million, grossed over $500 million worldwide. Kane Parsons' Backrooms , a 20-year-old adaptation of his own online series, became the most successful film in A24's history. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey became a cultural phenomenon, proving that audiences are willing to flock to theaters for ambitious and original works.
Meanwhile, films based on long-established franchises struggled. Masters of the Universe, Supergirl , and Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu all underperformed. Even newer franchises faltered: Minions & Monsters and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie both underperformed their predecessors. Disney's The Devil Wears Prada 2 was an exception, grossing $700 million worldwide thanks to its nostalgic appeal.
As a result, originality briefly captured Hollywood's attention. The trend is returning to blockbuster film franchises.
Then, the tide began to turn again with familiar names. Toy Story 5 debuted with a global revenue of $312 million, setting a record for the entire series. Its opening weekend in the domestic market was the second highest in animated film history, surpassed only by Incredibles 2. The film went on to earn over $1.14 billion worldwide, exceeding the success of Toy Story 4. Clearly, this 31-year-old franchise has not lost its appeal.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day premiered on July 31st and dispelled concerns about the saturation of superhero films. The film set a record with $168 million in opening day revenue and held the number one spot for six consecutive weeks. This is the longest streak since Avatar: The Way of Water . To date, the film has grossed approximately $2.5 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing domestic film of all time and the third highest-grossing film globally. Sony distributes the Spider-Man films, but Marvel Studios co-produced them, and these films belong to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This sends a positive signal for Avengers: Doomsday .
All of this has led to the current situation, where a film released seven years ago has returned to theaters and outperformed newer releases. This event concludes a turbulent summer at the box office, and the ups and downs are far from over.
This was the highest-grossing summer ever (without accounting for inflation). The iconic film franchises (IPs) played an undeniable role. Screenwriter William Goldman famously summarized the nature of Hollywood in three words: "Nobody knows anything." Looking back at this past summer, that statement proved to be entirely accurate.
Source: https://svvn.tienphong.vn/tu-avengers-endgame-nhin-ve-tuong-lai-cua-co-may-khai-thac-thuong-hieu-ip-tai-hollywood-post1882703.tpo
