‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Is Skipping IMAX, But It’s Making History in ScreenX Instead

Marvel Studios has spent years leaning on IMAX’s massive screens and booming sound systems to sell the scale of its biggest crossover events, turning premium format screenings into a key part of how audiences experience an Avengers movie. That partnership has felt almost automatic for the franchise’s tentpole releases, making any deviation from it feel like genuinely significant news.

‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ is about to break from that tradition in a big way. The film won’t be playing in IMAX theaters across the United States for its first three weeks in release, since Dune: Part Three secured an exclusive contract for the format’s limited domestic screens during that exact window, and Marvel ultimately chose not to shift its own December 18 release date to work around it.

Instead, Disney and Marvel are turning to an alternative format to fill that gap, and it comes with its own milestone attached. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ will play in ScreenX theaters, marking the first time any Avengers film has been shown in the format.

ScreenX offers a 270-degree panoramic viewing experience, extending the picture onto additional screens along the side walls of the theater rather than confining the image to a single central screen. A newly released preview clip from inside a ScreenX auditorium gives fans their first real look at how ‘Doomsday’ will fill that expanded field of view once it hits theaters.

Marvel has already tested this kind of immersive format once before, with ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ becoming the first film this year to include additional footage specifically filmed on set for its ScreenX release. A separate 15-second comparison clip released for ‘Doomsday’ shows the difference directly, contrasting a standard 2.39:1 aspect ratio shot against the expanded three-wall ScreenX version, revealing details on the side screens that were cropped out of the traditional frame entirely.

Those additional details include an extended view of Namor running through a parted ocean, revealing the ruins of Talokan city in the background, along with a wider look at the X-Mansion’s interior featuring more of its stained-glass architecture and visible debris.

Beyond ScreenX, Disney has also introduced a new certification called Infinity Vision, aimed at guaranteeing moviegoers big screens, bright images, and strong sound quality across a network of certified Premium Large Format theaters. The studio is rolling out Infinity Vision first with September’s theatrical re-release of ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ using it as a test run ahead of ‘Doomsday’s’ arrival in December.

It’s worth noting that Infinity Vision isn’t a new projection technology in the way IMAX is, but rather a consumer-facing label helping audiences identify which existing large-format auditoriums meet Disney’s standards. Ticket sales for premium formats, including Infinity Vision, ScreenX, 4DX, and RPX, opened back on July 20, while general ticket sales for the film began August 14 through Fandango.

‘Avengers: Doomsday’ is set to unite the Avengers with the X-Men and Fantastic Four in live-action for the first time, alongside the returning Chris Evans as Steve Rogers after seven years away from the role. With a reported runtime of 165 minutes still subject to change, the film is scheduled to open in theaters on December 18, with Thursday preview screenings expected the night before.

Given how much attention Marvel is putting into how fans experience ‘Doomsday’ visually, this ScreenX debut could end up being one of the more memorable ways to catch the film in theaters.

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