Doomsday Premium Viewing Substitute After Losing IMAX To Dune 3

Both long-awaited franchise movies are scheduled to release in theaters on December 18 in what is being called “Dunesday.” Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Three already has one advantage, though, which is that it will have a three-week exclusive window in IMAX theaters, including during opening weekend. IMAX tickets are more expensive than standard theatrical tickets, which gives Dune a competitive edge at the box office.

According to TheWrap, Disney is looking to combat this by still providing other premium theatrical options for Avengers: Doomsday. They are reportedly pushing hard for the film to be available in Dolby, D-Box, and 4DX, none of which have to solidify their release schedules as early as IMAX does. Disney is also looking at more individualized premium theater experiences across 322-chain specific theatrical formats. One of these is AMC’s XL format that utilizes a wall-to-wall screen at least 40 feet wide with 4k Laser projection.

Disney’s push comes amid growing audience interest in seeing the biggest blockbusters in the most optimal formats in theaters. In 2025, tickets became available and quickly sold out for the opening of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in IMAX 70mm, a year before the movie’s theatrical release on July 17, 2026. As the culmination of numerous Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, characters, and storylines, Avengers: Doomsday is expected to do exceptionally well at the box office, but Disney is still looking to make the film even more exciting by tapping into the premium theater viewing evolution.

Questions have been raised about whether the timing of the simultaenous release will help or hurt how Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three perform at the box office. A theater chain owner, who chose to remain anonymous, shared with TheWrap that “I’m a firm believer with tentpole movies that if they build a strong enough audience, that audience is going to find a way to see the movie in theaters even if there’s other movies they want to see on screens at the same time. If either of those movies make less than we expect, I think it will be a word-of-mouth issue, not a competition issue. But I’m optimistic that people will like both movies.”

While Avengers: Doomsday seems like it should be an indisputable financial hit, there is still some uncertainty after the box office earnings of the MCU Phase 5. Deadpool & Wolverine grossed more than $1.3 billion worldwide and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 reached $845.5 million globally, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Captain America: Brave New World, and Thunderbolts* all underperformed. Ensuring Doomsday can be watched via premium theatrical alternatives is another step toward ensuring that it will not struggle at the box office as many of the franchise’s more recent movies have.

Avengers: Doomsday‘s cast is another reason why the movie is expected to succeed, and Disney wants to showcase all of them in the most appealing way possible in theaters. The cast includes Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America, Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Letitia Wright as Shuri/Black Panther, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, and Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier/Professor X. All members of the Fantastic Four and the Thunderbolts are in the movie too, as are other X-Men from the original live-action films.