Recently, we talked about what box office tracking is saying about the opening weekend of “Avengers: Infinity War.” According to that tracking, it was poised to have a massive opening, albeit somewhat smaller than the recent opening for “Black Panther.” Well, according to pre-sales figures from Fandango, we’re probably looking at an even bigger opening weekend for the Marvel Studios film than the recent tracking suggests.
According to a series of tweets from Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis, ‘Infinity War’ is still two weeks from opening and it’s destroying previous Marvel Studios records. The biggest stat being talked about is how ‘Infinity War’ isn’t just outpacing “Black Panther” (it’s actually selling twice as many tickets as ‘Panther’), but the film has already pre-sold the last seven MCU films…combined.
That means if you take all the pre-sales tickets for “Black Panther,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “Doctor Strange,” “Captain America: Civil War,” and “Ant-Man,” and add them all together, then you’d still get a total less than ‘Infinity War.’ Clearly, this doesn’t mean that the latest ‘Avengers’ film is going to break every box office record, but it does paint a clear picture that the hype surrounding this film is unprecedented and that opening weekend should be something special.
The latest ‘Avengers’ movie has already broken the April record for pre-sales (beating “Furious 7“). On top of that, it should easily end up as the biggest superhero preseller of all time.
Obviously, this is all amazing news for Disney and Marvel Studios, who have sunk an incredible amount of money into the production and marketing for “Avengers: Infinity War.” But as we discussed in the previous ‘Avengers’ box office article, box office expectations are through the roof for this film, and anything less than record-breaking could be looked at as a disappointment. But according to Forbes, it doesn’t look like the film needs to break records to be deemed a “hit.”
In a recent breakdown by Forbes, the film will just need to replicate the overseas success of ‘Civil War,’ combined with somewhere over $400 million domestically, to be looked at as a solid box office win. Of course, with the recent unprecedented success of “Black Panther,” everyone is expecting that the goodwill from that film, in addition to the sheer size and scope of ‘Infinity War,’ means that the latest ‘Avengers’ movie could reach the $2 billion mark worldwide, which would be a first for Marvel Studios.
No matter what the final gross is for the film, opening weekend is going to be nuts. So, if you plan on seeing “Avengers: Infinity War” during that opening frame, you better get your tickets soon.
THIS JUST IN: #InfinityWar has sold more than double the amount of tix as #BlackPanther two weeks from release – and not only that, it’s sold more tickets than the last 7 (!!) @MarvelStudios movies combined. The film is going to be massive https://t.co/Z6LDToPXml
— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) April 11, 2018
Some other stats to go with this: #InfinityWar is now Fandango’s top April preseller of all time (a record it broke in March, btw), passing FURIOUS 7, and it is of course pacing to top #BlackPanther as the number one superhero preseller in Fandango history pic.twitter.com/YVYWHuyr3m
— ErikDavis (@ErikDavis) April 11, 2018