Avengers: Doomsday may not be on the menu for IMAX viewers when the MCU's next team-up film first arrives. After a thrilling opening to its promotional run, which began over a year before the movie's theater release, Doomsday is quickly reasserting its place as the most anticipated new movie of 2026. However, when it finally opens in theaters, it may not have quite the debut many imagined.
Reports indicate that Marvel Studios' Avengers: Doomsday will not be shown on IMAX screens immediately when it starts playing in theaters. As detailed by @EmpireCity on X, Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Messiah (which will be released in theaters on the same day as Doomsday) will have an exclusive three-week window on IMAX screens. This means that, barring any changes, the fifth Avengers film would not be shown in IMAX format until at least January 8, 2027.
This marks a change from a report released in October 2025, which included Doomsday among 20 movies set to hit IMAX screens throughout 2026. That same list also included Dune: Messiah, though it did not say whether either movie would have any exclusivity during its first weeks on the big screen.
The most recent example of something similar happening came in July 2023 with the noted "Barbenheimer" event, when Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie were both released on July 21. Partially due to Nolan's long-standing deal with IMAX, Oppenheimer got an exclusive run in this format while Barbie did not.
Avengers: Doomsday will be Marvel Studios' fifth Avengers movie and the third MCU movie released in the MCU's Phase 6 slate. At least 31 actors are already confirmed for roles in this movie, which will pit the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and more in an epic battle against Robert Downey Jr.'s Victor von Doom. Avengers: Doomsday will debut in theaters on December 18.
How Avengers: Doomsday's Box Office Could Be Affected Without IMAX
While not every MCU movie has had an exclusive IMAX run at its initial release (one possible exception being 2026's Spider-Man 4), Marvel Studios is a consistent presence in this format. The Avengers movies, in particular, have all had IMAX releases upon their initial theatrical run, which was also expected for Doomsday.
Fans do have alternatives to IMAX if they want a similar premium experience for the MCU's next team-up movie. Dolby theaters provide an almost equally epic experience through their use of colors in Dolby Vision HDR, while the sound system adds scale for an incredibly immersive experience. This helps make up for the lack of a full floor-to-ceiling screen, which is IMAX's calling card.
The other question is whether Doomsday's absence from IMAX screens on its initial release date could hinder or impact its potential at the box office. While this is certainly possible, Doomsday is expected to be the biggest box office winner of the year, and possibly the biggest movie of this decade so far.
Doomsday's four trailers combined to amass over 1 billion views in a month, even after all four leaked online through fan videos taken in theaters before they were officially released. Combine that with this franchise's wildly successful history (the four Avengers films have combined to gross over $7.7 billion at the global box office), and it seems all but guaranteed that Doomsday will be a massive hit.
This new movie is not guaranteed to reach Endgame ($2.9 billion) or Infinity War ($2 billion) levels of success, but it still has a chance behind a cast full of MCU regulars and Marvel legends.
Richard Nebens joined The Direct in March 2020, now serving as the site's Senior Writer and also working as an assistant editor and content creator. He started his journalism career as a hobby in 2019 and is passionate about sharing news and stories from the entertainment industry, especially comic book movies, comedy, and sci-fi. Richard looks to expand his knowledge about movies and TV every day, and he is eager to stay locked into the latest releases and breaking news at every opportunity.
