I refreshed my phone and the presale counter didn’t crawl — it leapt. Avengers: Doomsday is already sitting on $50 million (€46 million) in presales with three months to go. If you’ve ever watched a studio exec go pale, you know that number reads like an alarm bell.
I’ll say this plainly: I follow box office patterns for a living, and you should treat this as a signal, not noise. You’re going to see headlines, analysts, and theater chains parsing every decimal — and most of it matters.
I watched the presale counter climb from my commute: Why $50 million three months early is not normal
The counter passing $50 million (€46 million) while the film is still months from release is rare. For many films, $50 million would mean a respectable opening weekend; for Doomsday, it’s a fast start that changes the conversation.
Marvel Studios and Disney have already sold more than $50 million in advance, and over 70% of those sales are tied to screens labeled “Infinity Vision” — a big premium tilt that inflates early revenue and signals audience appetite for high-ticket formats like IMAX and Dolby Cinema. That premium mix matters: studios and exhibitors measure not just seats sold but the average ticket price, and premium screens lift that number sharply.
Tools and trackers like Box Office Mojo and Deadline were the first to report the figure; io9 pushed the narrative into fan communities. You should read those sources, but remember the context: presales are a momentum metric, not a final grade. Still, for a movie to hit this level before anyone has seen a review is like a high beam cutting through fog — it changes the route.
How much have Doomsday presales reached?
Answer: Presales have exceeded $50 million (€46 million) so far, with a significant share coming from premium Infinity Vision screens and major chains such as AMC, Regal, and Cinemark reporting strong early demand.
I queued at a theater kiosk yesterday and saw Infinity Vision slots vanish: How Doomsday compares to historic presales
Some context helps. Avengers: Endgame reportedly set a presale record near $120 million, Star Wars: The Force Awakens did about $100 million, and Spider-Man: No Way Home hit roughly $75 million. But those sales behaved differently.
Endgame’s massive presales came in a very short window — roughly three weeks before release — and rode the tailwind of an enormous prior hit. Doomsday started selling tickets months earlier, which spreads demand over time and changes how we interpret the pace. Did Endgame hit $50 million in a day or a week? We can’t rewind the clock to know for sure, but the comparison is uneven.
Think of the current market like a marathon with a sprint at the start: early presales give you a lead, but the middle miles still matter. Industry figures, analysts, and platforms will watch how the rate accelerates as marketing ramps up and reviews arrive.
Can Doomsday beat Endgame’s presale record?
Short answer: It’s possible but unlikely. Endgame’s ~ $120 million record came under different conditions — compressed sale window, bigger immediate hype, and direct momentum from the previous film. Doomsday has a head start and premium sales working in its favor, but matching or exceeding that peak will require a second surge closer to December 18.
I checked competing showtimes while buying a ticket: What this means for opening weekend and the wider market
Here’s the practical effect: a substantial portion of the opening weekend is already locked in. That reduces downside risk for the studio and raises the floor for box office projections.
But there’s a catch. Doomsday opens opposite Dune: Part Three, which is also drawing strong interest. Two tentpoles releasing the same weekend forces a split in audience and premium-screen supply. Exhibitors will juggle allocations across IMAX, Infinity Vision, and premium auditoriums — and that allocation will matter for per-screen averages and total grosses.
For you, the moviegoer, this is simple: buy early if you have a preferred format or showtime, because premium slots are already a finite resource. For analysts and competing releases, the presale number is a marker: it guarantees headline momentum but not the final verdict.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
I’ve watched countless presale stories evolve into opening weekend sagas, and you should treat this one as the opening salvo. Will Avengers: Doomsday convert early money into sustained box office dominance, or will December’s competition and the reviews reshape the race?