Avengers: Doomsday has all the makings of becoming this year's biggest movie, making it all the more surprising that it won't be released in IMAX. Instead, Warner Bros. Discovery's Dune: Part Three will dominate the giant-sized screens over the holidays.
To counter that, Disney has announced plans to launch Infinity Vision, a new certification for premium large format (PLF) theaters. Following Avengers: Endgame's planned re-release, the "Infinity Vision" branding will also be used for this December's Avengers: Doomsday.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond opened up on Dune: Part Three's exclusive three-week window on IMAX screens.
"We wish we could have played Avengers, and Disney understands that, and I think Disney’s going to be great with it," he argued before weighing in on Infinity Vision. "They created kind of a marketing vehicle called Infinity Vision, which enables them to 'brand' their release. It’s important to note there’s no additional screens. It’s just kind of a branding move on their part."
It's interesting to hear Gelfond lament not being able to play Avengers: Doomsday on IMAX screens in one breath and completely dismiss Infinity Vision in the other.
Chances are IMAX would have made more money by having the next Avengers movie on its screens, but Warner Bros. Discovery might just have beaten Disney to the punch on securing those scenes. Whether Doomsday will get a brief IMAX run after that exclusive window is over isn't clear, and it will go head-to-head with the Dune threequel on December 18 as planned.
There was speculation about a release date change, but Marvel Studios appears confident that the return of Earth's Mightiest Heroes can easily topple the conclusion to Paul Atreides' story.
Gelfond's comments are far more measured than IMAX CFO Natasha Fernandes', who recently said, "From our view, we feel it’s a marketing play to try and offset the fact that they don’t have an IMAX platform or brand for Avengers: Doomsday. It doesn’t offer the consumer anything that they couldn’t get yesterday."
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.
Avengers: Doomsday stars Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Mabel Cadena, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, India Rose Hemsworth, and Wesley Holloway all make their Avengers franchise debuts.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, with Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18.