When Avengers: Doomsday opens this December, it will be everywhere. Like destiny, it will be an inevitability from which pop culture cannot run… unless you’re in an IMAX screen in the US.
The reason? Dune: Part Three got first dibs.
Doomsday was, at one time, slated to release in just a few months’ time on May 1, 2026, only for it to shuffle later on Disney’s release schedule—a shuffle that inadvertently put it landing day-and-date alongside Denis Villeneuve’s final chapter in his Dune trilogy on December 18.
Putting the “Barbenheimer” of it all aside, what that accidentally means for Doomsday is that it will be locked out of IMAX’s premium screen format entirely. The theater company confirmed recently as part of an investor presentation that Dune had already secured exclusive IMAX screening rights in the United States for its opening weekend (as there wasn’t previously competition for its release date), meaning Doomsday will only screen in IMAX on opening weekend internationally.
There’s long been a question if, out of one or the other, Disney or Warner Bros. will blink and shuffle dates around to avoid Doomsday and Dune clashing. But the loss of a lucrative premium format like IMAX—and the increased cash per ticket sale that comes with it—even if for a short time, now means the ball is in Disney’s court on that front.
That said, it’s probably not going to influence Disney’s plans for Doomsday too much. The studio is now pretty locked into that December 18 release date—they’re still even doing that livestream countdown on Marvel’s YouTube, which has been running for a month and a half so far since the final teaser drop. Whether or not superhero fatigue is truly real, or at least applies to an Avengers movie, remains to be seen—but there’s little doubt a lack of IMAX showings on opening weekend will stop Doomsday from making a lot of money for Marvel and the House of Mouse.
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