DIS Walt Disney Co

'Avengers: Endgame' is beating sales records before the movie even arrives at theaters

By Erich Schwartzel 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (April 4, 2019).

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 normal levels 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 04, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.