Avengers: Endgame had the biggest day one of any theatrical presale title ever — and it got there in six hours. Tickets were released on Tuesday for the MCU’s final Avengers showdown, a scramble that left fans with long digital lines, site crashes, and sold out showings. Within just six hours, Fandango ticket sales knocked out Star Wars: The Force Awakens to claim the top spot for day-one ticket sales.
Not only did Avengers: Endgame break records for ticket presales, Fandango confirmed to Polygon that Tuesday was also the site’s best sales day ever in over 19 years of business. Ticket sales surpassed even the biggest moviegoing days during the Christmas holidays in the U.S. and 12 Latin American countries. Fandango managing editor, Erik Davis, tweeted that he has “never seen anything like this before.”
I hesitate to call #AvengersEndgame the most anticipated movie of all time, but in all honesty the numbers this one is putting up are extraordinary. I have been doing this for a good while - you all know this - and I have never seen anything like this before pic.twitter.com/3wpObXnZ8f
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) April 2, 2019
Those hoping to snag opening night tickets were, of course, frustrated by the confusion and hassle. #AvengersEndgametickets trended on Twitter, thanks in large part to users complaining about their technical issues. Screenshots of waiting times and crashed websites were tweeted at Fandango and AMC, as desperate fans struggled to find seats. Tickets almost immediately started popping up on eBay, with some going for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
But the best, or at least funniest, indication that Avengers: Endgame set a new precedent is local news coverage of the pre-sales. Nearly every news channel across the country, from Good Morning, America to Phoenix, Arizona’s ABC affiliate, covered the broken records, site crashes, and fan responses. Watching Michael Strahan poke fun at Twitter’s tendency to overreact might make this whole thing worth it.