Avengers: Endgame' Pulverizes Ticket-Presale Records
April 03 2019 - 3:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Erich Schwartzel
Walt Disney Co. appears to have another hit on its hands with
"Avengers: Endgame."
The next installment in Disney's Marvel Studios universe of
superheroes doesn't come out until the end of the month, but it is
already setting records in ticket presales, indicating a
blockbuster opening for the movie.
"Avengers: Endgame" had the biggest single-day ticket sales
Tuesday on Comcast Corp.'s ticket-buying service Fandango. Fandango
didn't disclose how many tickets were sold, but the performance of
the previous record-holder offers some indication of how big
"Endgame" could be: The previous Fandango record for sales in one
day was set by Disney's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which
collected $248 million in its opening weekend in the U.S. and
Canada in December 2015.
"Endgame" made more in its first six hours on Fandango than the
one-day record set by "The Force Awakens" in its first 24 hours of
sales, the company said.
"Avengers: Infinity War" set the record for the biggest domestic
opening weekend of all time, with $258 million, last April. It went
on to gross a massive $679 million in the U.S. and Canada and a
total $2.04 billion world-wide, making it the fourth-highest
grossing movie ever at both the domestic and world-wide box office.
"Avatar," which came out in 2009, remains the biggest, with $2.79
billion world-wide.
"Endgame" is almost sure to outperform "Infinity War." When
"Endgame" tickets went on sale Tuesday, the demand caused some
exhibitor websites to crash temporarily.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the nation's largest theater
chain, said the traffic on its website and mobile app was 10 times
higher than normal and caused servers to shut down.
After the website resumed working, AMC said its sales for
"Endgame" exceeded its previous single-day record-holder, "The
Force Awakens," by 50%. The theater chain said it sold more tickets
to "Endgame" on its first day than four previous Disney movies --
"Infinity War," "Black Panther," "Captain Marvel" and "Star Wars:
The Last Jedi" -- combined.
Even scalpers appeared to be getting in on the action, as
tickets were listed on Craigslist and eBay for many times their
retail price.
The "Endgame" opening is sure to continue Disney's unprecedented
winning streak at the box office. Powered by franchises like its
Marvel superheroes, the studio had a commanding 26% market share of
the box office in 2018. Its slate this year is full of what theater
owners expect to be guaranteed blockbusters, including "The Lion
King," "Toy Story 4" and "Star Wars: Episode IX."
The pent-up demand for "Avengers: Endgame" is driven in part by
the ending of "Infinity War," which closed with half the Marvel
heroes disintegrating into dust. Many fans expect "Endgame" to
offer resolution to that cliffhanger.
Write to Erich Schwartzel at erich.schwartzel@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 03, 2019 14:46 ET (18:46 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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