Avengers: Infinity War Sets Major Presales Records, Doubles Black Panther

Avengers: Infinity War has teased the start of a climactic event for the Marvel Cinematic Universe that’s 10 years in the making. Thus, anything short of complete and total supremacy in sales numbers could be considered a disappointment. Fortunately, Infinity War is, indeed, delivering that and then some with its advance numbers, which are already on track to break records that were just broken by fellow MCU movie Black Panther.

In what has become a pre-Marvel-movie tradition, the latest presales report by Fandango is claiming that box office records are on the verge of being smashed. While the ticket booking site doesn’t reveal hard numbers, the latest Marvel presale accolades, as achieved by Avengers: Infinity War, purportedly double the (record-breaking in their own right,) Black Panther presales. Moreover, in a shocking narrative, Infinity War has already sold more advance tickets than all seven of the previous MCU movies combined.

That means that the aggregate presale numbers for Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War and Ant-Man do not surpass what Avengers: Infinity War has already earned, over two weeks until its release. Interestingly, back on March 27, Infinity War preemptively claimed the April presale title, having left the 2015 Fast & Furious franchise sequel (and eventually $1.5 billion-earning) megahit, Furious 7 in the dust.

Discussions a few months back about Black Panther’s presales numbers going into its February 16 release almost seem quaint now. It’s a pertinent thought, since that film still resides firmly in the top 5 in the middle of April, currently sitting on a $1.3 billion global box office take. That film’s presale accolades saw it become (up until now,) Fandango’s top preseller of Q1 and its superhero movie presales king. Indeed, the advance sales translated substantively when Black Panther surpassed opening weekend expectations with $202 million domestic, putting it in the same rarified air as contemporary hits The Avengers ($207.4 million), Jurassic World ($208.8 million), Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($220 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248 million).

Consequently, if ticket presales are an indication of opening weekend success, at least for MCU movies, then this is especially auspicious news for Avengers: Infinity War, which box office speculators have already tracked for a North American opening weekend that’s well over $200 million (though some of the more bearish soothsayers have it around $175 million).

Avengers: Infinity War, directed by Joe and anthony Russo, is set bring the entire MCU together for a colossal cosmic-powered conflagration with the Mad Titan, Thanos, when it arrives at theaters on April 27.