Avengers: Endgame has managed to set records even before its April 26 release. The final Avengers installment has sold over 25 lakh tickets in advance sale on BookMyShow, going on to become the first Hollywood movie to drive such pre-booking sales on the ticketing platform, according to a press note released on Thursday.
Avengers: Endgame has been released by Disney in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on 2,600 screens – the first Hollywood production to be distributed on this scale. It has also become the “fastest film to have surpassed the 2 million advance ticket sales mark on BookMyShow”, with 18 tickets booked per second, according to the press release. The frenzy around the film’s release was unprecedented, Ashish Saxena, BookMyShow’s chief operating officer said in the note. “As the craze around the film continues to intensify, we expect a mighty opening on Friday and a record-breaking first week,” he added.
Multiplex chain INOX Leisure has reported pre-bookings of 700,000 tickets for the weekend, while PVR Pictures Ltd has dedicated 70% of its 768 screens to the film, Mint reported.
Some multiplexes in Mumbai, including PVR Cinemas, the IMAX screen at Carnival Cinemas, and Cinepolis have programmed shows at 1am, 2am, 5.30am and 6.30am over the weekend for various language versions. The early morning shows have also led to soaring ticket rates ranging up to Rs 2,400 in a few theatres in Delhi and Mumbai, Business Insider reported. Avengers: Endgame was also the first film after Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Thackeray to get post-midnight screening permission in India, the business website added.
Joe Russo, who has directed the film with his brother Anthony, said during a recent round-table interview in Mumbai that India was a very significant market for Marvel Studios. The film has also brought in big numbers at its other big market, China, making more than $100 million on its opening day on Wednesday, Variety reported.
Avengers: Endgame assembles Marvel’s superheroes, including Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), to put up a final fight against the super-villain Thanos (Josh Brolin).
The heavily-marketed movie has also tied up with the Google search engine. If you search for “Thanos” on Google and click on his gauntlet, which has the six Infinity Stones, the search results get wiped out with the snap of a finger, which mimics Thanos’s action in Infinity War. In that movie, Thanos destroys half the world and most of the Avengers by snapping his fingers. At least on Google, Thanos’s destruction can be reversed by clicking on the gauntlet once again.
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