If you’ve been waiting on Avengers: Endgame like we’ve been waiting on Avengers: Endgame then you probably found yourself extremely frustrated by the troubles trying to obtain a advanced tickets to the next Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster last week.
As was covered widely, movie theater websites like big movie houses AMC and Alamo Drafthouse as well as ticket distributors like Fandango and Atom Tickets were inundated with way more traffic than they estimated. It overwhelmed nearly every website or app that offered up online movie tickets so much so that the AMC website was completely knocked offline for several hours and digital queues at Fandango had wait times well over an hour. In short, it was insane.
Avengers: Endgame Set New 1-Day Presale Record
Ultimately AMC came back online later in that evening, a little after the Russo Brothers posted on Instagram that presale tickets for Endgame broke the one day presale tickets record…. in just six hours.
Keep in mind that the record was set during a time when many couldn’t even get through to purchase their tickets. I think it’s safe to say that if AMC, Fandango and Atom Tickets were able to handle the onslaught on April 2nd, 2019 that the record would have been broken well within two hours.
I had first hand experience that fateful day; spending nearly two hours from the release time of 8 AM EST hopping around site to site, from app to app all in the hopes of buying presale tickets to Endgame.
Avengers Isn’t Just Big, It’s Going to Eat the World
I got my tickets, but they weren’t at the ideal theater nor the show time I wanted. Considering everything, the tickets I did end up getting aren’t bad at all. Hopefully you were able to get your presale tickets, too.
If you haven’t then you’re 100% out of luck if you’re still hoping for the best seats (or any seats) during the prime showtimes on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday of opening weekend.
Here’s how to get the best movie tickets to Endgame.
That’s because Fandango and Atom Tickets put out announcements recently that the fourth Avengers movie has sold more advance ticket sales in its first week than Star Wars: The Force Awakens which was the previous Fandango preasale record holder. Not only that, Endgame is outdoing advanced tickets for Avengers: Infinity War by a factor of five. Wow.
One week after advanced tickets went on sale, movie ticket distributor Atom Tickets said that during Endgame’s first week of sales had sold nearly twice as many tickets as “Aquaman,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Captain Marvel” combined. Triple Wow.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see a record amount of fans reporting sick to work or taking the day off on Friday because they’ll be attending opening day screenings,” Fandango managing editor Erik Davis told The Hollywood Reporter.
Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if Avengers: Endgame ate the world. I’m ready for my last days, Marvel.
Can Avengers Exceed Box Office Expectations?
It’s odd to read the conservative box office estimates that are being predicted for Endgame.
Not only are all these presale records being broken, but the film leading up to Endgame, Infinity War, crushed box office estimates and set new records all up and down Hollywood and around the world.
When Infinity War was set to debut last year, the film was expected to debut at somewhere between $185 million to $225 million. Infinity War ended up beating the high estimate by a not so insignificant 15% or $32.6 million. Infinity war pulled in $257.6 million as the biggest North American launch in history.
That’s relevant because Avengers: Endgame was first expected to bow domestically somewhere between $200 million to $260 million. That’s just $3 million above Infinity War’s take. What?!
Based on the pre-sale numbers, many experts upped their expectations to $250 million to $280 million for opening weekend in the United States. That’s a little more realistic. Still, even at the higher end of that range, I firmly believe that Endgame is not only going to kill that number and hit $300 million, but we think it’s going to surpass $300 million by a healthy percentage.
That’s because even with a three hour run time, theaters around the country are adding showtimes deep into night and into the morning to capture the demand. For example, the AMC Empire 25 in New York City is the busiest AMC in the country, there are Endgame screenings every 15-30 minutes between 1 A.M. and 5:30 A.M. — mind you, this is for Thursday (technically Friday) showings. That’s nuts people.
We know that one theater isn’t going to get Endgame into uncharted territories of a $300 opening weekend and a $1 billion global opening, what will get people into seats is the palatable excitement, the investment in the characters, the emotional stakes, and a crazy conclusion that the Russos promise will top Infinity War. This is all especially true considering it’s the unofficial sequel to Infinity War’s shocking dusting of half the universe’s population.
All this (as well as the film debuting in China the same day and date) will propel Avengers: Endgame to an unprecedented $300 million domestic opening weekend and over $1 billion for an international opening weekend, toppling every box office record in the history of box office records. That’s a true endgame.
Avengers: Endgame hits theaters on Thursday, April 25th with an official opening date of Friday, April 26th, 2019.
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