When Avengers: Endgame tickets went on sale last Wednesday morning, the effects were chaotic. Both Fandango and AMC’s websites crashed under the pressure, and fans were freaking out over the (largely imagined) prospect of having to wait out opening weekend and avoid spoilers, which is (almost) impossible to do these days when it comes to a tentpole of this magnitude. Very quickly, we learned that this movie outpaced the first-day advance tickets record previously held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens (as well as the then-fourth-place spot held by Infinity War). Well, things have grown more impressive with Endgame now taking over the first-week presale tickets record.
Not only that, but these results illustrate that MCU excitement has reached critical mass. People really want to know who (if anyone … Peter Parker?) survives Thanos’ snap, and according to Hollywood Reporter, the Fandango presales are “outpacing Avengers: Infinity War 5 to 1.” The trend won’t stop there, from the looks of things. Not only will the Thursday, April 25 previews be madness at the multiplex, but showtimes are sold-out throughout the weekend. Who wakes up at 4:30 am to watch a superhero movie? A lot of people:
Those who want to see the superhero pic at Regal L.A. Live at 5:30 a.m. April 26 are out of luck, for example. All seats have been snapped up, according to a Fandango seating chart. And the 2:30 a.m. viewing of Endgame in Imax 2D at AMC Century City in L.A. is almost sold out, while the 5:30 a.m. 3D screening is at capacity.
In New York City, the AMC Empire 25 — the busiest multiplex in the country — will continue to offer screenings of Endgame every 15 minutes or half hour between 1 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., following the usual Thursday evening schedule and before official Friday showtimes commence.
As a result, theaters are now scrambling to add 6:30 am screenings to their Friday schedules. That means that a ridiculous number of people will be struggling through a three-hour runtime, and Deadline suggests that a $300 million opening U.S. weekend isn’t out of the realm of possibility. And to think … some analysts fretted over how killing off loads of beloved characters might hurt the MCU’s appeal, but that’s only stoked greater flames of interest. We’re all teaching Hollywood that it’s okay to toy with our emotions, but they knew that already. Still, Marvel Studios and Disney had better bring Black Panther, Spidey, and Winter Soldier back to life, or there will be nerd hell to pay.
Avengers: Endgame arrives in theaters on April 26.
(Via Hollywood Reporter)