New Avengers: Doomsday TV Spot Confirms Trailer Was Dropping the Night of D23

A new Avengers: Doomsday TV spot did not contain a single frame of new footage, and that was the point. What it confirmed was that tickets were going on sale and that a brand new trailer was landing online that same night, right after D23 wrapped.

I had already seen comments saying this was not a new trailer and pointing out there was no new footage in it. My response was simple: "That's right, there isn't any new footage in this." The spot was built to run on television that same evening, once tickets went on sale at 9:00 p.m. Pacific, midnight on the East Coast, and it existed purely to tell people two things: tickets were on sale, and a new trailer was live online.

The reason it was pushed to YouTube instead of being aired on TV came down to view counts. Marvel and Disney did not want to put the trailer itself on television, because then there would be no reason for anyone to go watch it on YouTube, which is where all those view numbers get counted. So the TV spot did the announcing, and the actual trailer was reserved for online release.

I said this confirmed, in my words, "100% confirming this," that a brand new trailer was dropping that night after the conclusion of D23, which ran from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on the West Coast and 10:00 p.m. to midnight on the East Coast. As soon as that programming ended, tickets were going on sale worldwide for Avengers: Doomsday, and a new trailer was landing on YouTube at the same time.

Why the Doomsday Spot Aired the Morning Before Instead of That Night

I found it worth explaining why this spot showed up in the morning rather than during the actual event that night. Basically, Marvel and Disney paid for an advertising campaign, and that is standard practice you also see with radio ads: announcements or advertisements typically air after a date has passed or a special has already happened. This case was the opposite of that normal pattern.

The studio had simply started running the ad that day, August 14th, ahead of the actual on air moment. The issue was that they did not have complete control over exactly when broadcasters or programmers would slot it in, which is why it ended up airing that morning instead of being held for the evening as originally intended.

What D23 Was Covering for Doomsday That Night

That night's D23 programming was set to cover Avengers: Doomsday, and my expectation was that a trailer would be shown during the event. For anyone who only cared about the new Avengers: Doomsday trailer specifically, I said to expect it online around 9:00 p.m. West Coast time, or midnight on the East Coast, once D23 had concluded.

Doomsday Presale Tickets Now, Endgame Encore Tickets Later

Some people had been asking whether they had missed ticket sales for an Avengers: Endgame encore. I clarified they had not missed anything. The only ticket sales that had happened up to that point were the presale tickets for Avengers: Doomsday, the first released batch, and I said I had gotten mine, actually securing two showings for myself.

For anyone who missed that first Doomsday presale batch, the sale going on that night was their chance to get tickets. I said Marvel and Disney would not put Avengers: Endgame encore tickets on sale until probably two weeks later, after everyone had a chance to get their Doomsday tickets first.

My read on this was that it was deliberate sequencing, done so people would spend their money on Doomsday first and then go see the Endgame encore afterward, once it included the additional Doomsday footage. The goal was to avoid a situation where audiences felt they had to pick only one or the other, because as I put it, given the economy right now, that is sometimes exactly what happens. I added that this timing does not mean people would not go see Doomsday at all, just that they might not buy their tickets early.

How Doomsday Presale Tracking Compares to Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Right now, Marvel Studios and Disney are trying to lead the tracking conversation by pushing the idea that this is the biggest movie of the year and driving as many presale tickets as possible. Now that Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a Sony co-production, has tracked as well as it has at the box office, I said it would be super interesting to see where Doomsday's tracking, or at least its presale tracking, stood after that weekend.

I said it would be super interesting to see where Doomsday's tracking, or at least its presale tracking, stood after that weekend, and whether it would live up to what Spider-Man: Brand New Day had done, which a lot of people have been talking about. I put it directly: "What kind of world will we live in where Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a Sony co-production, might actually outdo Doomsday at the box office."

What do you think, could Spider-Man: Brand New Day actually outpace Avengers: Doomsday at the box office?