“Captain America: Civil War” has surpassed “Batman v Superman” as being Fandango’s top pre-selling superhero movie of all time, the company announced Tuesday.
The latest Marvel release also beat previous record holders “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “The Avengers.”
“With an ‘Avengers’-sized ensemble cast, stellar advance reviews, the introduction of a new ‘Spider-Man’ and new characters like ‘Black Panther,’ the widespread anticipation for Thursday night’s debut of ‘Captain America: Civil War’ is massive,” said Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis. “Already hailed as Marvel’s best movie yet, Cap and ‘friends’ can add a new notch in their belts with more advance tickets sold for ‘Civil War’ than for any other superhero movie in Fandango’s 16-year history.”
According to a survey conducted on more than 1,000 fans on Fandango, 85 percent are excited to see Chadwick Boseman‘s Black Panther, 87 percent are intrigued by Spider-Man’s part in the film, and 68 percent of fans are planning to see “Civil War” multiple times in theaters.
A total of 65 percent claim positive reviews from critics have increased their desire to see the film. After all, the film has a 94 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Forty-eight percent of fans chose Black Widow as the Avenger they’d most want to see have a standalone film for a character that does not have one yet. This comes almost four months after “Captain America: Civil War” directors Joe and Anthony Russo said they were wishing for a Black Widow solo film, after controversy surrounding Black Widow and other female characters.
In 2014, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was in the hot seat when he said he would support a female-lead superhero film but didn’t make any solid plans to make a film. According to Time, Marvel Studios also faced criticism when Black Widow wasn’t mentioned at last year’s Comic-Con, and when Marvel erased Wasp — a female founding member of the Avengers team — from both the “Avengers” movies and the upcoming “Ant-Man” film.
“Captain America: Civil War” stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland and Chadwick Boseman, and is set to hit theaters this Friday.
The first two “Captain America” films went on to gross $176.6 million and $259.8 million, respectively.