The third phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is concluding this Friday, at a theatre near you. As the second installment after Infinity Wars that sees most characters from Marvel films till date rally against Thanos, Avengers: Endgame has already filled up most of the weekend. After the bookings for the film opened around Sunday midnight, a majority of the seats were gone before you could say Princess Counsuela Banana Hammock.
Let this sink in.. INOX has sold tickets worth Rs 6 crore in a span of 14 hours for #AvengersEndGame in India. To give a perspective, its higher than the combined total advance sales of #Kalank, #TotalDhamaal, #Kesari, #URI, #LukkaChuppi, #Badla at the property!
H-I-S-T-O-R-I-C— Himesh (@HimeshMankad) April 21, 2019
There are tweets floating around reporting that INOX alone has sold tickets worth Rs 6 crore in 14 hours, which sounds like a high number considering India approximately has 8,000 screens all over the country. Reaching out to INOX for a comment, we were told that the advance booking numbers are inching close to the 95% mark for the entire weekend, by sources close to the company.
Not really confirming any numbers in his statement, INOX’s Chief Programming Officer Rajendra Singh Jyala responded to the query over email: “As anticipated, across the country, the shows of Avengers Endgame are almost sold out in a very short time. The first day advance sales have been unprecedented. We are also anticipating an equally massive response to the advance sales of the Hindi and regional language bookings. We are looking forward to welcoming guests in record numbers on the opening day.”
The Avengers Endgame ticket booking buzz is absolutely bonkers. I haven’t witnessed this much maara maari for a Hollywood movie in India since 2009’s Avatar.
— Mihir Fadnavis (@mihirfadnavis) April 21, 2019
Endgame comes less than a year after Infinity War, the film that broke the record for highest-grossing English film in India with reported collections of a Rs 300 crore or $43.5 million. That was merely a fraction of Infinity War‘s worldwide collections of nearly $2 billion. Endgame promises to be as big as any big-ticket Bollywood film, with opening day estimates ranging between Rs 40-45 crore on Day 1.
Aamir Khan’s Thugs of Hindostan reportedly earned around Rs 52 crore on its opening day, before disappearing into oblivion. Endgame has a lot more going for it. Website Bookmyshow issued a statement around the deluge of traffic that has resulted in more than a million tickets being sold in under 24 hours, and therefore making a record for the platform.
“The prequel – Avengers: Infinity War broke all records and saw the biggest worldwide opening of all times. The concluding part in the franchise – Avengers: Endgame – is creating waves with over a million tickets already sold, and we expect the film to break more records as cinemas continue to open the advance bookings,” said Ashish Saksena, COO – Cinemas, BookMyShow in a press release.
Looking at Captain Marvel‘s billion-dollar run at the global box office, Endgame will surely be looking to push the boundaries of Infinity War. Tears are going to be shed, goodbyes will be said and LOTS of wealth is going to be made over the next few days. After all, we’re in the Endgame now.
