Seven years after it first hit theaters, “Avengers: Endgame” has climbed back to the top of Hollywood’s all-time box office chart.

Disney and Marvel Studios put the 2019 blockbuster back on the big screen on Sept. 25 under the title “Avengers: Endgame Encore,” adding a few minutes of footage that teases December’s “Avengers: Doomsday” along with an introduction from Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. The response was immediate. The Encore debuted at No. 1 in its opening weekend, grossing $26 million domestically and $86 million worldwide—the third-best domestic opening ever for a rerelease, trailing only the 1997 special edition of “Star Wars” and the 2011 3D reissue of “The Lion King.” In its second weekend, it outsold “Resident Evil” as well as three new non-franchise titles: “Heart of the Beast,” “Primetime,” and “Forgotten Island.”

The momentum faded fast. Domestic ticket sales dropped more than 80% in weekend two, but the Encore had already accomplished its mission. It added another $18.8 million worldwide this weekend, lifting the rerelease to roughly $126 million globally. That pushes “Endgame’s” lifetime gross to $2.9255 billion, nudging past James Cameron’s “Avatar” at $2.9237 billion. The crown has changed hands before: “Endgame” seized it from “Avatar” in 2019, ceded it in 2021 after “Avatar” was rereleased in China. Because rerelease earnings count toward lifetime totals, the all-time ranking stays open to revision whenever a catalog blockbuster returns to theaters—a dynamic 2021 demonstrated and this weekend has now repeated.

Rereleases rarely earn more than $10 million, according to box office analyst David A. Gross. Yet a film that has been available to stream for years still managed to outdraw a full slate of new releases. The takeaway: Hollywood’s intellectual property machine shows no sign of slowing down, and the future of moviegoing may look more familiar than it did when the summer began.

A franchise heyday, then a stumble

In 2019, the year “Endgame” ruled theaters, nine films grossed more than $1 billion worldwide—and every one was a sequel, remake, or spinoff of existing IP. Hollywood has been chasing that high ever since. The pandemic and the streaming wars scrambled moviegoing habits, and big swings from once-reliable brands such as Marvel, DC, and, most recently, Star Wars failed to recapture the critical and commercial heights of the previous decade.

No brand fell harder than Marvel, the defining franchise of the 2010s. Before the pandemic, the studio’s biggest titles routinely approached or cleared $1 billion. From 2020 through this summer, only two Marvel films crossed that threshold: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Last year, “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts*,” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” combined for roughly $1.3 billion—less than half of what “Endgame” earned on its own.

For viewers hoping Hollywood would take chances on fresh ideas, the summer initially looked like a turning point. Two YouTube creators-turned-directors broke through in a big way. Curry Barker’s “Obsession,” produced for under $1 million, has grossed more than $500 million worldwide, and Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms”—adapted by the 20-year-old from his own web series—became A24’s biggest hit ever. Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” meanwhile, turned into a cultural phenomenon, demonstrating that audiences would turn out in force for something ambitious and distinct.

Legacy IP, by contrast, struggled. “Masters of the Universe,” “Supergirl,” and “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” all underperformed, and even newer franchises lagged, with “Minions & Monsters” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” each trailing their predecessors. Disney’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2” was the exception, riding nostalgia to nearly $700 million worldwide.

For a few weeks, originality had Hollywood’s ear.

Tide turns back to franchises

Then the business drifted back toward familiar waters. “Toy Story 5” opened to $312 million globally, a franchise record, and its domestic debut ranked as the second-biggest ever for an animated film, behind only “Incredibles 2.” It went on to gross more than $1.14 billion worldwide, passing “Toy Story 4”—clear evidence that the 31-year-old franchise still had plenty left in the tank.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which arrived on July 31, quieted fears of superhero fatigue. It set a record with a $168 million opening day and spent six consecutive weekends at No. 1, the longest such streak since “Avatar: The Way of Water.” The film has now grossed about $2.5 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing domestic release ever and the third-biggest movie of all time globally. Sony distributes the Spider-Man films, but Marvel Studios co-produces them and they sit squarely within the Marvel Cinematic Universe—an encouraging sign for “Avengers: Doomsday.”

All of which brings Hollywood to the present moment, in which a seven-year-old film returned to theaters and outgrossed everything new on the marquee. It caps a summer of box office whiplash, and the swings are not over. This weekend, “Digger,” a big-budget original comedy from Tom Cruise and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, bombed with an $8 million domestic opening, while the weekend’s winner was “Verity,” an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel. On Oct. 23, Laika’s “Wildwood” and DC Studios’ “Clayface” open on the same day. “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” follows on Nov. 20, and on Dec. 18, “Doomsday” and “Dune: Part Three” go head-to-head.

The 2026 summer box office delivered a record $4.76 billion domestically—the biggest summer ever before adjusting for inflation, and nearly 10% ahead of 2019. IP such as “Spider-Man” and “Toy Story” played an undeniable role, but non-franchise titles “The Odyssey,” “Michael,” “Project Hail Mary,” and “Obsession” all rank among the year’s 10 highest-grossing releases worldwide. “Backrooms” and Pixar’s original “Hoppers” sit at Nos. 11 and 12, both ahead of “The Mandalorian and Grogu” at No. 13.

Screenwriter William Goldman famously distilled Hollywood into three words: “Nobody knows anything.” Coming out of this summer, the line certainly rings true.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.