‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Just Made Box Office History Before a Single Ticket Was Even Used

Marvel Studios has spent much of 2026 rebuilding momentum after a rocky stretch for the MCU, and the strategy appears to be working better than anyone anticipated. Between a triumphant ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ run and a steady drumbeat of hype leading into December, the studio’s box office fortunes look as strong as they’ve been in years.

That momentum is now converging on ‘Avengers: Doomsday,’ the Russo brothers’ long-awaited crossover event bringing Robert Downey Jr. back to the MCU as the film’s central villain. With Christmas still months away, advance ticket sales for the film have already become one of the most closely watched storylines of the season.

Those advance numbers just reached a milestone no film has ever hit before. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ has crossed $40,000,000 in domestic pre-sales a full 100 days ahead of its theatrical release, according to Global Box Office, making it the first movie in history to reach that figure with so much time still remaining before opening weekend.

The pace of this rollout has been unusual from the start. Tickets initially went on sale July 20 for premium formats across roughly 1,000 domestic theaters, and the film reportedly pulled in $16,500,000 on that very first day alone, a number said to be roughly double what ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ managed on its own opening day back in 2024.

From there, the pre-sales only accelerated. Wide sales opened to all theaters around Disney’s D23 event, pushing the total past $35,000,000 within weeks and eventually crossing the $40,000,000 threshold that no film had ever reached at the 100-day mark. Reports have also noted that Doomsday’s early sales have outpaced ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ by roughly 65% over their respective first two days of availability.

Industry trackers are already using these early numbers to project a massive December debut. Current estimates place ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ anywhere between $260,000,000 and $300,000,000 for its opening weekend, which would put it within range of, though likely still short of, ‘Avengers: Endgame’s’ record-setting $357,100,000 domestic opening from 2019.

The film will also share its December 18 release date with Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune: Part Three,’ which is separately tracking toward a franchise-record opening of its own after pulling in $10,000,000 in early pre-sales. Disney chose not to give ‘Doomsday’ access to Imax screens for its opening stretch, since ‘Dune: Part Three’ holds exclusive rights to the format for three weeks following their shared release date, prompting Marvel to introduce its own premium large-format certification called Infinity Vision instead.

Much of the anticipation driving these numbers comes down to who’s actually on screen. The Russo brothers, who previously helmed ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ are back in the director’s chair, while Robert Downey Jr.’s return following Tony Stark’s farewell in ‘Endgame’ has become one of the film’s biggest selling points.

The cast reportedly spans Earth-616’s Avengers and Wakandans, the Fantastic Four from Earth-828, and the original X-Men lineup, giving the film an enormous scale that matches its record-setting pre-sales momentum. With Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige producing and a 165-minute runtime already confirmed, everything about ‘Doomsday’ points toward one of the biggest theatrical events of the decade.

Whether that early ticket-buying frenzy translates into the kind of word-of-mouth success Marvel needs will only become clear once audiences actually see the film in December. For now, ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ has already rewritten the record books before a single frame has played for a paying audience.

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