‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Tracking for Insane Worldwide Opening, Report Says

Marvel’s box office fortunes have looked shaky at various points over the past few years, but 2026 has quickly turned that narrative around. Between critically praised releases and a string of surprise commercial hits, the studio appears to be climbing back toward the kind of dominance it hasn’t seen since before the pandemic.

That resurgence reached new heights with ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ which shattered box office records earlier this year and has since crossed $2 billion worldwide, becoming the first Spider-Man film ever to hit that milestone. With momentum like that already in the bank, all eyes have turned toward whether Marvel’s next major event film can pull off something even bigger.

According to a new report, ‘Avengers: Doomsday‘ is now tracking for a worldwide opening north of $1 billion, a projection built on presale numbers that have reportedly outpaced anything the studio has seen before this far out from release.

Industry outlet World of Reel reported that Doomsday has already sold 92% of the entire preview ticket haul that ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ generated across its whole run, suggesting the film could clear $100 million in previews alone. Based on that pace, the outlet projected a domestic opening weekend in the range of $400 million, which would surpass the current record holder for the biggest domestic debut in history.

That current record, notably, belongs to ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ itself, which opened to $360 million domestically earlier this year, narrowly edging out ‘Avengers: Endgame’s’ longstanding $357.1 million debut from 2019. If Doomsday’s tracking holds, it would mark the second time in a single calendar year that Marvel resets its own opening weekend record.

Early data backs up the excitement. Reports from earlier this summer indicated Doomsday’s first-day advance ticket sales hit $16.5 million, with presale figures running twice as high as those recorded for 2024’s ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’ a film that went on to gross $1.3 billion worldwide as the highest-grossing R-rated release ever.

Part of what makes this projection so significant is the scale of the release itself. ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ shares its December 18 release date with ‘Dune: Part Three,’ a pairing fans have already dubbed “Dunesday,” setting up what could become one of the largest combined box office weekends ever recorded.

For comparison, the three biggest combined weekends in box office history were tied to the releases of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ in 2019, which generated $402 million collectively, ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ in 2018 at $314 million, and ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in 2015 at $313 million. Given the tracking numbers circulating for both December releases, that record appears to be squarely in play.

Some analysts have offered more conservative estimates, with domestic projections ranging as low as $230 million to $260 million and worldwide openings closer to $600 million. Even those more cautious figures would still represent one of the biggest debuts of the year, underscoring just how much anticipation has built around Marvel’s first full-scale Avengers reunion since ‘Endgame.’

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ reunites a sprawling roster of heroes while folding in characters from the X-Men and Fantastic Four corners of the franchise, all centered around Robert Downey Jr.’s highly anticipated return as the villainous Doctor Doom. That reunion, paired with the nostalgia of Downey Jr. stepping back into the MCU after years away as Iron Man, appears to be a major driver behind the surging presale numbers.

Whether the film ultimately lands closer to the more conservative projections or the eye-popping $1 billion opening figures currently circulating, one thing seems clear: Marvel has a genuine box office event on its hands heading into the holiday season.

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