Avengers: Doomsday blasts to $16.5 million in first-day presales
Variety reports Marvel’s next Avengers movie sold $16.5 million in advance tickets on day one, despite a limited premium-format rollout.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Marvel’s next super-team brawl is already making noise at the ticket counter: Variety reports that “Avengers: Doomsday” pulled in $16.5 million in advance ticket sales after its first day on sale.
Disney’s Marvel Studios opened sales alongside the debut of the film’s first trailer, which showed the Avengers and the X-Men heading toward a fight with Doctor Doom. The early number is striking because sales were restricted to premium formats at about 1,000 domestic theaters, according to Variety.
That footprint will expand sharply when the movie opens the weekend of Dec. 18. Variety reports that “Avengers: Doomsday” is expected to play on more than 4,000 screens in North America.
Studio insiders told Variety that premium-format showtimes for Thursday, Dec. 17, and Friday, Dec. 18, are already mostly sold out. Exhibitors are also reportedly adding more screenings for Christmas Day and later dates.
No Imax, no problem so far
The presale total does not include Imax, which is usually a major part of premium large-format moviegoing. Variety reports that “Avengers: Doomsday” will not play in Imax because “Dune: Part III” opens the same day and has an exclusive three-week hold on the company’s screens.
That Imax arrangement is tied to Denis Villeneuve shooting the third “Dune” with Imax cameras, according to Variety. With Imax unavailable, Disney has introduced “Infinity Vision,” described by the studio as a certification for theaters that meet technical standards rather than a new projection technology.
Variety reports that first-day presales for “Doomsday” are running at twice the level of Marvel’s 2024 team-up “Deadpool & Wolverine,” even though that film’s first-day sales included all formats and screens. “Deadpool & Wolverine” opened to $211 million and finished with $1.3 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever.
A December box office collision
The scale of the “Doomsday” opening is still uncertain. The last full Avengers assembly, 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” posted the biggest opening weekend on record with $357 million domestically and $1.2 billion worldwide, Variety noted. It remains the second-biggest movie ever with $2.7 billion.
Marvel’s post-pandemic box office run has been uneven, according to Variety, though its biggest recent wins have come from reunion-sized films such as “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which made $1.9 billion, and “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Another Marvel title, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” is due July 31.
The same-day arrival of “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Dune: Part III” has already been dubbed “Dunesday.” Variety reports that the pairing could produce one of the largest combined weekends in box office history, a list currently led by the weekend of “Avengers: Endgame” with $402 million overall, followed by “Avengers: Infinity War” with $314 million and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” with $313 million.
Joe and Anthony Russo directed “Avengers: Doomsday,” the 39th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Variety reports that the cast includes Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, along with Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Florence Pugh, Patrick Stewart, Pedro Pascal, Ian McKellen, Letitia Wright and Channing Tatum.
Disney’s logline says heroes from three universes will collide while facing an existential threat, according to Variety. A follow-up, “Avengers: Secret Wars,” is planned for 2027.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.