China Box Office: 'Avengers: Infinity War' Crushes Presales Records

With nearly $50 million in presales and counting, the Marvel Disney juggernaut has topped the record for a Hollywood film set by 'The Fate of the Furious' last year.

Marvel Disney's Avengers: Infinity War is revving up to make a massive start in the Chinese film market, the world's second-biggest box-office territory.

The mega-tentpole had notched $47.5 million (RMB 302 million) in presales as of late Wednesday night in Beijing. With a full day to go before the local release Friday, Infinity War has set a new all-time ticket presales record in China, surpassing the estimated RMB 300 million (about $47 million at today's exchange rate) earned by Edko Film's Monster Hunt 2 during the lead-up to Chinese New Year in January.

Infinity War also handily crushed Hollywood's record for presales in China — Universal's Fate of the Furious was the prior record holder with an estimated $25 million (RMB 158 million) in 2017.

A strong showing in the world's most populous nation could prove instrumental in helping Infinity War become the first summer tentpole ever to approach $2 billion worldwide. China's biggest-earning superhero film to date was Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) with $240 million — a total most China box-office analysts believe to be within Infinity War's reach.

The Marvel juggernaut will have just one full week to itself in China before Paramount's sleeper horror hit A Quiet Place opens May 18.