Avengers: Endgame Encore has two runtimes, and the cheaper ticket gets three minutes less
Disney puts Avengers: Endgame back in cinemas on Thursday with new footage the Russo brothers say builds a bridge to Doomsday. How much of that bridge you actually get to see depends on which ticket you buy, and the gap between the two versions has now been measured to the second.
The British Board of Film Classification has certified the re-release at two separate lengths: 183 minutes 3 seconds, and 186 minutes 14 seconds. Digital Spy spotted both entries on Sunday. The 2019 film ran 181 minutes. That puts roughly two minutes of new material in an ordinary screening and roughly five in the other one.
The longer certificate belongs to Infinity Vision. Speaking at CineEurope in Barcelona, Disney said the re-release would carry a custom introduction, additional new footage and a post-credits scene exclusive to Infinity Vision and IMAX. The BBFC numbers are the first hard measure of what that exclusivity is worth in minutes.
It is a short bridge for the weight it was given. The Russo brothers framed the new footage as a way to connect Endgame to Doomsday, and Deadline reported the re-release being described as a critical companion story and a setup for the next film. Two minutes is about the length of a trailer.
What the certificate does not tell you
A classification runtime records what was submitted, not what is in it. Nothing in the BBFC listing says whether the extra footage advances the Doomsday plot or is a featurette bolted on after the credits, and Digital Spy flags exactly that ambiguity. Disney has not published a breakdown.
The new footage was announced as a way to "create a bridge from Endgame to Doomsday." — the Russo brothers
That vacuum is being filled by report-led coverage naming specific characters said to appear in the additional scenes. None of it is confirmed by Disney or Marvel Studios, none of it comes from a named source, and the studio has said nothing since CineEurope. Until Thursday the certificate is the only document in this story that is actually verifiable.
- Standard screening — 183m 3s, per the BBFC
- Infinity Vision — 186m 14s, per the BBFC
- The 2019 release — 181 minutes
- Post-credits scene — Infinity Vision and IMAX only, per Disney at CineEurope
- Custom introduction — announced for the re-release, format unspecified
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Why put a seven-year-old film back in cinemas
Because of a number that is still moving. Endgame is the second-highest-grossing film ever released, and the gap to Avatar has been narrowing rather than widening. A re-release with material you cannot see anywhere else is a way to work on that gap without making anything new.
Disney has run this play with this exact film before. On 28 June 2019, two months after release, Endgame went back into cinemas as Avengers: Endgame — With Bonus Content, carrying six minutes of extra material after the credits: a tribute, a deleted scene and a teaser for Spider-Man: Far From Home. Kevin Feige had announced it nine days earlier, and nobody involved pretended the target was anything other than Avatar's record. Seven years on the structure is identical, except that the standard ticket now buys two minutes rather than six.
The appetite appears to be there. Tickets went on sale in late August and the re-release reportedly recorded the biggest first-day pre-sales this century for a theatrical reissue, ahead of the 2012 3D return of Titanic, with more than $10 million banked before opening week.
"A custom introduction, additional new footage, plus a special post-credit scene exclusive to Infinity Vision and Imax screenings." — Disney, at CineEurope
Which leaves one practical thing to check before Thursday, and it is not a leak. It is which format your cinema is actually running, because that is what decides whether the ticket includes the scene the studio has been advertising. Avengers: Endgame Encore opens on 25 September.
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