‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Is Reportedly Out-Selling ‘Endgame’ in Europe, and the Numbers Are Wild

When Marvel’s biggest team-up arrives, the entire industry watches the numbers. For years, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ has been the yardstick for what a superhero event can do at the box office, and every new blockbuster eventually gets measured against it. Beating it has long seemed like a fantasy.

That’s partly why ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ has been under such close scrutiny. The film marks the return of Robert Downey Jr., this time as Doctor Doom, with Anthony and Joe Russo back in the director’s chair. It opens in the U.S. on December 18, and the question is whether it can recapture the magic of the original Avengers saga.

According to reports from box office trackers, the early signs in Europe are striking. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is said to be surpassing the first days of ticket sales for ‘Endgame’ in multiple European countries, including Germany and Spain. That’s especially notable because cinema tickets are considerably more expensive in Europe now than they were in 2019, so matching or beating old sales is even harder.

AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY seems to be doing the impossible: surpassing ENDGAME’s first days of TICKETS SALES in multiple European countries (including Germany and Spain) This is particularly impressive because tickets are way more expensive now in Europe. https://t.co/8eE4h1dD2a

— Global Box Office (@GlobalBoxOffice) October 8, 2026

Other markets point in the same direction. In the Netherlands, distributor Disney said more than 50,000 tickets were sold within roughly a day of sales opening, beating the previous record held by ‘Endgame’, which sold 42,000 in 24 hours. Cinemas there added extra screenings to meet demand.

The film has also posted strong early numbers elsewhere. In the U.K. and Brazil, it became the fastest movie to pass $1 million in pre-release ticket sales. Global Box Office reported on October 6 that the movie has crossed $100 million in worldwide presales.

Disney took an unusual approach to the release. Premium-format tickets went on sale on July 20 alongside the first trailer, and as Variety reported, the film generated $16.5 million on its first day across roughly 1,000 domestic theaters. That was twice the first-day total of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, and it came without IMAX, since ‘Dune: Part Three’ holds the entire IMAX footprint exclusively for three weeks.

Marvel responded with its own premium brand, Infinity Vision, and more than 70% of domestic presales to date have gone to those screens. Disney CFO Hugh Johnston later confirmed that the film had passed $50 million in domestic presales three months out. The film also became the first to cross $40 million in domestic presales 100 days before release.

Context matters here, though. Tickets for ‘Doomsday’ went on sale about four months before release, while ‘Endgame’ tickets were only available for under a month. ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’, which set the record for the biggest opening weekend ever at $360 million, began selling tickets only 45 days out.

That means early numbers can’t be compared directly with past hits. No major blockbuster has opened presales this early, so nobody knows how well early tickets will predict the final result. Analysts have urged caution, noting that presales are naturally front-loaded when a film is on sale for months.

Even so, the projections are eye-catching. The Hollywood Reporter has said the film is “exploding” on long-lead tracking, and some forecasts circulating among box office analysts suggest a domestic opening well above ‘Endgame’s $357.1 million. Some even speculate about a worldwide opening north of $1 billion, though those figures remain unconfirmed and should be treated as projections.

For comparison, ‘Endgame’ opened to $1.2 billion globally, the largest debut in history at the time. Beating that would require ‘Doomsday’ to capture audiences in every major territory, which is why strong European demand matters so much. The film will also face competition from ‘Dune: Part Three’, which opens the same day.

He used to be different. Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters everywhere December 18. Get your tickets now: https://t.co/J5PUbxvAkc https://t.co/OUutSMZneq

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) August 15, 2026

Marvel is keeping momentum going with an ‘Avengers: Endgame’ re-release called ‘Endgame Encore’, which includes previews of ‘Doomsday’. The new film will also be followed by ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ in 2027, so a lot is riding on this release. A strong opening could reassure a studio that has seen some uneven box office results in recent years.

The marketing has certainly kept Doctor Doom in the spotlight, from posters showing the hooded villain to a chess-themed teaser. Whether the buzz translates into record-breaking crowds will be known in December. For now, the early European numbers suggest Marvel has real momentum.

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