During its record-breaking run in 2019, “Avengers: Endgame” earned $212 million from Imax screenings. But this December, “Avengers: Doomsday” isn’t going to have the benefit of the world’s most famous movie format, so Disney has a backup plan: Infinity Vision.
Announced at CinemaCon in April, it is not, as some on social media initially thought, a brand-new premium format spun out of thin air by Disney. It’s a certification and promotion program designed to guide moviegoers to studio-approved premium formats and got its first run with “Avengers: Endgame Encore,” which grossed $26 million this weekend, with 52% of ticket sales coming from premium formats promoted through Infinity Vision.
So while Imax devotes its screens worldwide to Warner Bros./Legendary’s “Dune: Part Three” in December, Disney is looking to make up for the lost format by steering Marvel fans to other premium formats. And with 70% of the $50 million-plus in presales for “Avengers: Doomsday” coming from PLFs, that is going to lead to a windfall for many in exhibition.
The move traces its roots back to Disney’s decision to move “Doomsday” from a May 2026 release to December to give Marvel Studios more time to finish the massive crossover film that will mark Robert Downey Jr.’s return to the MCU not as Iron Man, but as the fearsome Doctor Doom. But by moving into the holiday corridor, Disney had to give up Imax support as the popular PLF company already had an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. on “Dune: Part Three,” directed by longtime Imax collaborator Denis Villeneuve.
That Disney felt compelled to create Infinity Vision underscores the power of Imax’s reputation among millions of moviegoers as the ultimate movie theater experience, having drawn countless Marvel fans to snatch up tickets to screenings of prior MCU films. By pushing Infinity Vision, Disney is hoping to break the hold that Imax has on audiences. At the same time, it creates an opportunity for exhibitors to shed light on other premium formats available to theatergoers.
Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution for Disney, said the studio recognized that Imax, while a valued PLF partner, was not the only one it works with on all of its blockbusters.
“There are approximately 320 premium format brands around the world, including the brands promoted in-house by theater chains. Moviegoers have shown time and time again they are looking for the best quality experience, and Infinity Vision is a way for us to help theaters guide them to the best option in their area,” he told TheWrap.
Over the summer, Disney sent out a rubric to theaters. Screens that wish to be approved for the Infinity Vision program must be at least 45 feet wide, have a 7.1 surround sound system, and a projector brightness for non-3D projectors of at least 14 foot-lamberts.
These are standards easily cleared by some of the top non-Imax PLFs, including Dolby Cinema, CJ 4DPlex’s seat-shaking 4DX and audience-encompassing ScreenX, Canadian-based motion seat format D-Box, and countless in-house theater chain formats like Classic Cinemas’ XQ, which uses 4K laser projectors and DTS:X surround sound in select auditoriums at 12 of the midwest chain’s 16 locations.
“We’re not asking [theaters] to abandon their brands. They spent a lot of time developing these brands. This is in conjunction with those brands, and we’re going to help them market it,” said Cripps.
Shining light on other premium formats
Infinity Vision is a partnership that Chris Johnson, CEO of Classic Cinemas, and Valmir Fernandes, president of International at Cinemark, said they very much welcome. For Johnson, who doesn’t partner with outside PLFs, having his XQ screens promoted on Disney’s Infinity Vision ticketing site could boost the profile of his in-house format, which Classic launched in 2019.
“The presales we’ve seen on XQ for ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ have been way higher than we’ve ever imagined,” Johnson said. “And it is heavily skewed towards XQ. People are seeking that out. Disney highlighting our format, which doesn’t have that widespread branding, has been a good thing.”
Fernandes, who oversees Cinemark’s locations in Latin America, said that the chain was so interested in Infinity Vision that it factored that into its capital expenditures over the summer. While Cinemark does partner with Imax and other PLFs like ScreenX and D-Box, it also has its own in-house Cinemark XD format, which is also taking part in Disney’s program.
To get more screens promoted through Infinity Vision, Fernandes said his company is upgrading approximately 200 of its standard auditoriums to XD auditoriums, which primarily involves updating the surround sound systems from 5.1 to 7.1, along with a handful of additional laser projectors.
“Most of the auditoriums that needed upgrading already qualified for the Infinity Vision label in terms of projection light levels, but after speaking with Disney we decided to rush to make sure as many auditoriums as possible could be updated in time for the opening of ‘Avengers,’” he said.
An early spark
Fernandes and other theater owners didn’t have to wait for Infinity Vision to begin in earnest for those investments to pay off. The interest Marvel fans have in PLFs resulted in format records being broken when “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” was released in theaters two months ago.
As a Sony Pictures release, “Brand New Day” didn’t get the Infinity Vision label, but it was notable for not having screenings on Imax until its second weekend in theaters as its staggering $927 million global opening came while Imax was still in the midst of a three-week exclusivity period for “The Odyssey.” So the moviegoers anxious to see Spidey as early as possible spread out to other premium formats.
The result was record numbers for CJ 4DPlex, which grossed a combined $112 million for ScreenX and 4DX, passing the company record of $103 million set by “Avatar: The Way of Water” in 2022. “Avengers: Doomsday” is expected to reset the record again, as the first-day presales for the film on ScreenX alone were 325% above that of “Brand New Day” despite the presales starting more than four months ahead of release.
Don Savant, CEO of CJ 4DPlex, said he’s been thrilled by the increased interest in ScreenX and 4DX and is hoping to build new partnerships off of the increased momentum that this Marvel-driven 2026 has given his company, as “Brand New Day” became the first film to get the “Shot for ScreenX” label as director Destin Daniel Cretton worked with the company to shoot principal photography with the format’s 270-degree screens in mind.
While he could not announce which films will be next to get the “Shot for ScreenX” treatment, Savant said CJ has been in talks with Paramount, Universal and Sony for more collaborations on the format. He’s also in talks with Marvel Studios on a partnership for next year’s “Avengers: Secret Wars,” a film that is expected to get Imax support.
“We are hoping by 2028 to have six to eight films in the ‘Shot for ScreenX’ program. We want to make it easier for filmmakers to use ScreenX as a tool to really open up the screen for moviegoers in a seamless way that can become a natural part of the production process,” he said.
Dolby’s premium offerings are somewhat different, sporting 177 branded Dolby Cinemas at AMC locations while selling its Dolby Vision projectors and Atmos sound systems a la carte to other theaters looking to upgrade their auditoriums. For the Dolby Cinemas, 2026 is set to be a record year as it is 23% above last year’s record pace with $177 million grossed so far, including $11 million from “Brand New Day.”
That might not sound like much, but as Dolby’s VP/General Manager of Cinema Jed Harmsen noted, two-thirds of all available tickets for the opening weekend of “Brand New Day” in Dolby Cinemas were sold through just presales, leading to company record $63,000+ per theater average. With “Doomsday” already setting a presale record for Dolby Cinemas three months prior to release, it may be impossible for AMC A-List members to buy walk-up tickets to those Dolby screenings when December rolls around.
“I think for premium formats as a whole, Infinity Vision is doing a good job of taking a wide array of formats that might be confusing for moviegoers to distinguish and sort of unifying them in a program that is promoting a high quality experience,” he said. “But we think that one of Dolby Cinema’s strengths is that it is already recognized as a signal of a premium experience, and that’s why we saw such a huge surge with ‘Brand New Day’ and will keep seeing it with ‘Doomsday.’”
None of this is to say that Imax’s dominance will be going away any time soon, nor is it suffering in any way from losing out on much of Marvel’s resurgence. “The Odyssey” has become the first movie ever to gross $500 million on Imax screens, and with “Dune: Part Three” expected to match or exceed the $82.5 million domestic opening of its 2024 predecessor, its commitment to Villeneuve will be well rewarded.
Also, even as Infinity Vision was launched this weekend, Imax did devote some of its screens to “Avengers: Endgame Encore” alongside other titles like the second weekend of Sony’s “Resident Evil” and the tenth weekend of “The Odyssey.” “Encore” made $4 million domestic and $13.7 million worldwide on Imax, accounting for around 16% of the $86 million the reissue made worldwide.
But with just over half of the business for “Endgame Encore” coming through Infinity Vision, it would not be surprising to see a similarly significant share for “Doomsday” in three months as Marvel fans are once again seeking to turn seeing an “Avengers” film into the most premium experience possible.
