Disney’s Avengers: Endgame re-release finally has an official title, and the announcement doubles as the clearest sign yet of how Disney plans to fight a premium-screen war it’s partly losing.
Speaking at CineEurope in Barcelona, Disney revealed the September re-release will be titled Avengers: Endgame Encore, hitting theaters Sept. 25.
It won’t be a simple replay: per Deadline, Encore will feature a custom introduction, new footage, and a special end tag — bridge material setting up Avengers: Doomsday — that will be exclusive to Infinity Vision and IMAX screens.
What’s New in Endgame Encore
The “Encore” tag is small but smart, enough to separate the re-release from the 2019 original for ticketing and, eventually, home video. The real draw is the fresh material.
Joe Russo has previously called the re-release “critically important,” with the new footage acting as a narrative bridge into Doomsday.
The catch: that bridge footage and end tag won’t play on every screen. See Encore on a standard screen, and you miss the connective material setting up Doomsday entirely.
It’s clever funneling, using a guaranteed-draw re-release to push moviegoers toward premium screens, and toward the new Infinity Vision brand specifically, right before Doomsday arrives.
Infinity Vision Is Scaling Up Fast
Infinity Vision — Disney’s own premium large-format (PLF) certification, first announced at CinemaCon — is growing quickly.
Disney says it’s received more than 7,500 applications from exhibitor screens worldwide seeking certification, and it’s launched a dedicated ticketing site, InfinityVisionTickets.com. To qualify, a screen has to be at least 45 feet wide, run immersive sound like Dolby Atmos or 7.1, and hit specific brightness levels.
That 7,500 number is real buy-in, and the exhibitor world is publicly on board, executives from Cinemark, Regal, and Cinema United all praised Disney’s “leadership” in simplifying how premium screens are marketed. On its face, it’s a tidy industry-wide initiative.
But This Is Still Disney’s IMAX Workaround
Here’s the part the celebratory quotes skip over, and it’s a story we’ve been tracking since May.
Infinity Vision pointedly spotlights non-IMAX premium screens. That’s not a coincidence.
IMAX has locked up Dune: Part Three — which opens the exact same day as Doomsday, Dec. 18 — for an exclusive run, which means Marvel’s biggest tentpole of the year won’t have the IMAX brand behind it. Disney needed another way to sell Doomsday as a premium event, and Infinity Vision is it.
Worth being clear: this isn’t Disney and IMAX at war across the board. Endgame Encore itself plays IMAX when it opens in September, there’s no conflict then.
The problem is December, when IMAX has committed its screens to Dune: Part Three on the exact day Doomsday opens. Marvel’s biggest tentpole of the year is the one shut out.
IMAX itself said as much.
Back in May, IMAX CFO Natasha Fernandes flatly called Infinity Vision “a marketing play to try and offset the fact that they don’t have an IMAX platform or brand for Avengers: Doomsday,” while insisting IMAX remains the name fans actually trust.
Disney frames Infinity Vision as leadership; its biggest rival frames it as damage control. The timing makes the rival’s read hard to dismiss.
Why It Actually Matters
Premium large formats can account for roughly 40% of a tentpole’s opening weekend in North America, Toy Story 5 just pulled close to $64 million of its record $159.6 million debut from PLF screens alone.
Losing the IMAX label on Doomsday means losing access to a meaningful slice of opening-weekend firepower unless Disney can convince audiences that an Infinity Vision badge carries the same trust.
That’s the real test. Endgame Encore in September is the dry run, a beloved, guaranteed-draw title used to build brand recognition for Infinity Vision before Doomsday has to carry it for real in December.
Disney is betting the Avengers name, new footage, and premium screens add up to an event regardless of whose logo is on the marquee. IMAX is betting fans know the difference.
Avengers: Endgame Encore hits theaters Sept. 25, with Avengers: Doomsday following Dec. 18, the same day as Dune: Part Three.
For everything confirmed, rumored, and leaked, see our full Avengers: Doomsday news and updates hub.
