Avengers: Endgame has sold a record 1 million tickets in just over a day on BookMyShow, making it the fastest film to do so on the third-party ticketing platform. And that's just the numbers from BookMyShow, mind you. Endgame tickets are also available on Paytm in addition to the official websites of PVR Cinemas, INOX, Cinépolis, and Carnival Cinemas among others. We've reached out to ask for their first-day numbers and will update this piece if we hear back. BookMyShow said at its peak, Avengers: Endgame was selling 18 tickets per second.
Tickets for Avengers: Endgame went on sale Saturday night in India, with INOX theatres the first to be available via BookMyShow. PVR Cinemas soon followed, with Cinépolis and Carnival Cinemas joining the fray overnight. The most prime-time weekend slots were sold out in a couple of hours, according to our estimates, and all the biggest IMAX and 3D theatres across Mumbai and Delhi were mostly sold out for the entire weekend by early Sunday morning.
Seeing the unprecedented demand, enterprising theatres such as Carnival Cinemas IMAX Wadala in Mumbai, even opened Endgame ticket bookings for a 3:20am show on Saturday. Even that show time is now nearly sold out, which indicates the massive demand for the Avengers film in India's biggest cities. Marvel fans are even ready to pay over Rs. 1,500 for the experience, as witnessed by the tickets sold for the likes of PVR Icon Phoenix IMAX Lower Parel in Mumbai, and PVR Select City Walk IMAX in Delhi.
“With just a few days left for Avengers: Endgame to hit the screens, the excitement around it is palpable,” BookMyShow's COO for cinemas, Ashish Saksena, said in a prepared statement. “The Marvel Cinematic Universe has a massive fan following across the world and over the years, has emerged as one of the most followed movie franchises in India as well. Avengers: Endgame is creating waves on BookMyShow before its release, with over a million tickets already sold, and we expect the film to break more records as cinemas continue to open the advance bookings.”
“Avengers: Endgame is not just a movie, it's an epic culmination of a decade long journey which the fans have taken with us across 22 films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” Disney India's head of studio entertainment, Bikram Duggal, said. “The phenomenal interest shown by audiences across the country is testament of how this is one of the most anticipated movie for the fans and we can't wait for them to watch it. Partnering with BookMyShow has enabled us to reach out to cinema-lovers across the country with their incisive data and analytics gathered from millions of its users.”
Avengers: Endgame is set to be the longest Marvel movie ever, featuring a sizeable cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Brie Larson, Paul Rudd, Karen Gillan, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Brolin, Danai Gurira, Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau, Winston Duke, and Tessa Thompson among others. It has been directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, who were also behind Infinity War.
Here's the official synopsis for Avengers: Endgame, via Disney:
“The grave course of events set in motion by Thanos that wiped out half the universe and fractured the Avengers ranks compels the remaining Avengers to take one final stand in Marvel Studios' grand conclusion to twenty-two films, Avengers: Endgame.”
Avengers: Endgame will release April 26 in India in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
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