Seven years after its original release, Avengers: Endgame has unfinished business at the box office.

The Marvel Studios blockbuster has overtaken James Cameron’s Avatar to become the highest-grossing film worldwide once again. According to The Walt Disney Company’s October 4 announcement, Endgame now holds an estimated $2.9255 billion, narrowly ahead of Avatar’s $2.9237 billion. That puts just $1.8 million between two of cinema’s biggest hits.

The lead is small. The comeback, however, is substantial: a film released in 2019 has drawn enough fresh ticket sales to rewrite the all-time chart.

The ‘Encore’ release that tipped the balance

The latest theatrical run, titled Avengers Endgame: Encore, has earned $126 million worldwide, according to TheWrap. That includes $36.2 million in North America and $89.8 million from international markets—the extra business that pushed the film back into first place.

Audiences also had a reason to return beyond revisiting a familiar blockbuster. TheWrap reports that the reissue features a modified ending and three new scenes during and after the credits, connected to Avengers: Doomsday. The release therefore serves two purposes: bringing an established favourite back to cinemas and giving viewers a bridge to the next Avengers story.

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A rivalry with a history of reversals

This is another change of leadership in a box office contest that has lasted for years.

Endgame first displaced Avatar in 2019. Cameron’s science-fiction epic regained the crown following its Chinese re-release in 2021. Now, another theatrical return has swung the result in Marvel’s favour. Re-releases have become a decisive part of the competition, extending both films’ earning lives well beyond their original runs.

The distinction matters: this is the record for worldwide theatrical revenue without adjustment for inflation, including re-release earnings. It measures money collected rather than the number of tickets sold.

Why ‘Endgame’ matters to ‘Doomsday’

The timing gives Marvel’s comeback an added significance. Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to reach cinemas on December 18, 2026, and Disney has positioned Endgame as an important foundation for that next chapter.

Explaining the connection, Anthony Russo said: “You really need to pick the story up from where you left it in Endgame.”

That makes this return more than a victory lap. A film remembered for closing a major chapter of Marvel’s story is now helping introduce the next one—and, along the way, has taken back Hollywood’s most closely watched box office title.

A film about powerful technology executives became caught up in the business relationships surrounding them.

Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, starring Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman, was developed at Amazon MGM Studios. But when the studio decided against releasing it, the filmmakers faced an uncertain future. Neon eventually acquired worldwide theatrical distribution rights, giving the project a route to audiences.

The move attracted scrutiny because of Amazon’s financial relationship with OpenAI. TheWrap reported that Amazon’s withdrawal followed a $50 billion investment in the AI company through a cloud computing partnership.

That timing prompted questions about conflicting commercial interests. It does not, however, establish the reason for the studio’s decision. Amazon’s public explanation was that the film would benefit from another distributor, while expressing support for Guadagnino and helping the production find a new home.

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The people behind the technology

Artificial explores the relationship between Altman and OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, played by Yura Borisov. Its dramatic territory is the collision between idealism, ambition and the consequences of building increasingly powerful technology.

According to Vulture’s account, screenwriter Simon Rich developed the project with urgency, and filming took place largely in northern Italy. The production’s emphasis on personal relationships gives its technological subject a recognisably human centre: people making decisions whose consequences extend far beyond themselves.

Garfield’s transformation went beyond appearances

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Guadagnino described abandoning elaborate facial prosthetics after early tests. Garfield instead worked with Altman’s movements, posture and walk, supported by restrained makeup.

The director also chose to shoot on 35mm film, placing live performances at the centre of a story about artificial intelligence. Producer Jennifer Fox told the publication that the film’s assertions underwent extensive vetting. That remains the production’s account of its research process, rather than an independent endorsement of every dramatised scene.

A new home, and an unresolved question

Garfield welcomed the fact that Amazon allowed the film to move elsewhere. Fox, meanwhile, described the withdrawal as surprising after a collaborative production relationship.

Neon’s involvement resolved the immediate distribution problem. The wider question remains open: how freely can filmmakers examine influential companies when those companies also help finance and distribute entertainment? Artificial’s journey has made that question part of the conversation before audiences even enter the cinema.

Sixteen years after The Social Network turned Facebook’s beginnings into gripping cinema, Aaron Sorkin is returning to the company with a different question: what happened after it became so powerful?

His new film, The Social Reckoning, centres on whistleblower Frances Haugen and journalist Jeff Horwitz. Sony Pictures describes it as a companion piece to the 2010 film, with a story built around an employee’s decision to expose closely guarded corporate information.

Jeremy Strong takes over the role of Mark Zuckerberg. The Hollywood Reporter characterises his portrayal as sharply villainous, particularly in its treatment of profit and responsibility.

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From Facebook’s beginnings to its public consequences

The film draws inspiration from The Facebook Files, the 2021 Wall Street Journal investigation based on internal documents disclosed by Haugen.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Sorkin explained the distinction between his two films: “The Social Network was about how Facebook was invented, and The Social Reckoning is what it’s become.”

Mikey Madison plays Haugen, while Jeremy Allen White portrays Horwitz. Their characters bring the story’s attention to the people challenging the institution, rather than solely to the man who built it.

That change gives the premise its tension. An employee has information she believes the public should see. A reporter must investigate it. Across from them stands a company with the resources to defend itself.

A pointed screening location

The film’s first public preview also carried a striking connection to its predecessor.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Sorkin presented The Social Reckoning at the Cinemark Century Mountain View 16 on September 16, less than 10 miles from Meta’s headquarters. Current and former Facebook employees were among the audience.

It was the same theatre Zuckerberg had booked to watch The Social Network with friends and employees in 2010. The location brought Sorkin’s return to Facebook unusually close to the people and company behind the story.

A drama about the people who speak up

Sorkin both writes and directs the new film. Alongside its central trio, the cast includes Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Billy Magnussen and Bill Burr.

Sony’s synopsis places Haugen and Horwitz at the heart of a risky effort to reveal the social network’s secrets. It is a dramatisation inspired by real events; its characterisations should be understood as the filmmakers’ interpretation.

The premise makes accountability personal: who decides to speak, who listens, and what happens when challenging an employer becomes a public confrontation?

The Social Reckoning is scheduled to open in US theatres on October 9, 2026, according to Sony.