Box-office factcheck · November 2, 2026
The comparison between Avengers: Doomsday presales and Supergirl’s theatrical run needs two corrections before it becomes useful. Advance bookings are not an already-played theatrical run. And the specific figures checked for this article do not show Doomsday passing Supergirl, even if we set that difference aside.
Here are the figures, with their labels intact
- Doomsday: reported advance sales of $125 million USD. Caroline Reid’s October 31 Forbes article describes sales across cinema categories over the preceding three months. This is attributed reporting, not a new Disney financial announcement. The relevant paragraph does not provide a territory-by-territory inventory or detailed methodology.
- Supergirl: $126,466,532 USD worldwide cumulative theatrical gross. Box Office Mojo’s All Releases page displayed that total at our November 2 check. It combines $72,366,532 domestic and $54,100,000 international. It is not a weekend result, and the page does not explicitly label the total final.
Subtracting the reported presale figure from the displayed worldwide gross leaves $1,466,532. On those values, $125 million is approximately 98.84 percent of the Supergirl total. It is close, but close is not higher.
This is a finding about the checked evidence, not a claim that advance sales have stopped changing. A newer, adequately sourced figure could alter the arithmetic. It would still need a clear date, geographic scope and explanation of what was counted.
What Disney has actually confirmed
Disney’s official movie page continues to list December 18, 2026 as the theatrical release date and carries ticket-sale promotion. It does not publish the $125 million presale total.
There is an earlier company-attributed milestone. TheWrap reported on September 9 that Disney finance chief Hugh Johnston announced $50 million in presales at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference. The same report said Disney identified 70 percent of advance tickets sold at that point as premium Infinity Vision presentations. That September snapshot should not be silently updated into the composition of today’s reported bookings.
The sales window changes the comparison
TheWrap’s August 16 reporting describes limited premium-format bookings beginning in July, followed by general advance sales in August. That is a lengthy opportunity to accumulate purchases before a December release.
For an opening-weekend forecast, several missing details matter: which screening dates the tickets cover, which markets are included, and how the sales mix changes as release approaches. A dollar total also does not tell us the number of admissions without ticket-price information. Expensive presentations and ordinary screenings can contribute differently to the same total.
None of that makes advance demand unimportant. Bookings represent people deciding to attend before the movie opens. They can help explain anticipation and scheduling. They cannot, by themselves, establish the eventual audience response, repeat business or full theatrical gross.
The useful conclusion is narrower
Doomsday has a substantial reported presale figure. The checked $125 million does not exceed the checked Supergirl worldwide total, and the comparison is not between equivalent stages of release. Calling it a settled box-office victory discards both distinctions. Keeping them makes the story more informative without requiring anyone to be less excited about the movie.
Sources checked November 2, 2026: Caroline Reid, Forbes, October 31; Box Office Mojo, Supergirl All Releases page; Disney Movies, Avengers: Doomsday; Jeremy Fuster, TheWrap, September 9 and August 16. All dollar values are USD. Arithmetic and interpretation are original WBA analysis.
Original AI-generated editorial illustration of advance ticket sales; not official Marvel artwork, a film still or a depiction of actual sales records.