‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Just Doubled ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’s’ Presale Record With Only a Fraction of Theaters Available

Marvel’s box office comeback story has been building for weeks now, and the numbers keep arriving faster than anyone predicted. Between record-breaking trailer views and a string of sold-out premium showings, ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ has spent this month proving that superhero fatigue might not be the industry-wide problem some analysts feared.

That momentum reached a new milestone this week, and the context behind it makes the achievement even more striking. Rather than a full nationwide rollout, this latest number came from a deliberately narrow slice of the market, making the total that much harder to ignore.

According to Variety, ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ earned $16.5 million from its first day of advance ticket sales, a total that becomes even more remarkable considering tickets were only available in premium formats across 1,000 domestic theaters. That kind of restriction usually caps early numbers significantly, yet Doomsday still managed to post a genuinely historic figure.

For comparison, those presales are already twice as high as the first-day sales for ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,‘ which had every format and every screen available when it set its own benchmark back in 2024. Doubling that number while working with a fraction of the theater count speaks to just how aggressively fans are responding to Doctor Doom’s first extended trailer appearance.

The film’s absence from IMAX makes the achievement even more notable. Disney created its Infinity Vision certification program specifically in response to losing IMAX access, since Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune: Part Three’ locked down the format exclusively for three weeks after shooting the film with IMAX cameras.

Rather than a new technology, Infinity Vision functions as a certification confirming that participating theaters meet Disney’s enhanced technical standards, giving Marvel fans a premium alternative even without the IMAX brand attached. That workaround appears to be resonating strongly with early ticket buyers regardless.

Showtimes for Thursday, December 17 and opening day on December 18 are already largely sold out according to studio insiders, with exhibitors reportedly adding additional screenings for Christmas Day and beyond to meet demand. When ‘Doomsday’ eventually opens wide, it will expand to more than 4,000 North American screens, a massive jump from its current limited premium footprint.

This surge arrives alongside another record for the film, as its first trailer pulled in 503 million views within 24 hours, ranking as the second biggest movie trailer launch of all time behind only Sony’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’ That combination of trailer dominance and ticket sales momentum has analysts increasingly bullish on the film’s eventual opening weekend.

Industry watchers have already started framing December 18 as Dunesday, given that Doomsday shares its release date with Dune: Part Three in what could become one of the biggest collective box office weekends in history. With both films posting strong early indicators, the shared date increasingly looks like a boost for both properties rather than a scheduling conflict.

While advance ticket sales never translate directly to final opening weekend totals, every early signal pointing toward ‘Doomsday’ right now suggests significant momentum. What do you think about Avengers: Doomsday doubling Deadpool & Wolverine’s presale record with so few theaters available? Let us know in the comments.