The rush for presale tickets ahead of the April 26 opening of Marvel Studios’ highly-anticipated Avengers: Endgame quickly took down the AMC Theaters site and app on Tuesday.
Regal Cinemas and the Atom Ticket apps also had issues early on Tuesday, while hour-long queues quickly emerged on the Fandango website.
The AMC Theaters site and app started to experience issues early in the morning and were completely down soon after midday. Meanwhile, fans experienced wait times of more than an hour to purchase tickets on Fandango on Tuesday morning.
By 12:35 p.m., Fandango temporarily stopped the ordering for AMC Theaters, according to USA Today.
Fans who logged onto Fandango to purchase tickets from some theaters were greeted by a graphic on the website which read, “You’re now in line for tickets.”
The graphic, which showed an estimated wait time, informed buyers that they would be able to purchase their tickets after the wait time expired.
AMC was partially back online by 3 p.m. but continued to experience issues while ordering for AMC on Fandango was still not working.
The situation upset many fans who took to Twitter to voice their displeasure.
Yo @Fandango this wait your turn thing is cool and all, but it would be nice if the site actually let me select seats and didn't crash when i get through. I was in line ON THE HOUR and OF COURSE it still crashes https://t.co/VP1jmcumn9
— Goddess Divine (@RRivo) April 2, 2019
If you try to buy “Avengers: Endgame” tickets on @Fandango, you are put in line at specific theaters. Ahh waiting in line for movie tickets, just like the old days. pic.twitter.com/hgca848jBS
— Frank Pallotta (@frankpallotta) April 2, 2019
Much like half of the Avengers, it appears that the @AMCTheatres website has been snapped out of existence due to the demand for "Avengers: Endgame" tickets. pic.twitter.com/2b5q5kVmH0
— Frank Pallotta (@frankpallotta) April 2, 2019
Live look at Fandango, AMC Theatres and Atom Tickets customer service now that #AvengersEndgametickets have gone on sale: pic.twitter.com/90oX7DIh5k
— Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) April 2, 2019
AMC tweeted a response concerning the complaints at 10:03 a.m.
We want everyone to be able to grab their Avengers: Endgame tickets, but it looks like we've gotten Thanos' snap. We're working on getting things back up and running, and in the meantime, please keep trying our website and our partner sites!
— AMC Guest Services (@AMCHelps) April 2, 2019
CNN reported that Avengers: Endgame set a first-day presales record, surpassing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and that happened a mere six hours after sales opened on Tuesday.
Although Atom Tickets had reportedly prepared for the online rush for tickets, the website still had trouble handling the huge demand. A spokesperson for Atom Tickets said that in the first hour of the presale, Endgame had sold three times as much as Avengers: Infinity War did at the same time last year.
Avengers: Endgame is the sequel to the blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War (2018). MCU’s Avengers film series is based on the Marvel Comics superheroes of the same name.
Avengers: Endgame is the 22nd entry in the MCU. This latest movie is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
The series stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Brie Larson, and Paul Rudd, among others.
In Avengers: Endgame, The Avengers will try to turn the tables on Josh Brolin’s Thanos after he destroyed half of all sentient life in the universe with a snap of his fingers in Infinity War.
Infinity War broke box office records when it premiered in April 2018, grossing $640 million during its opening weekend worldwide, and eventually raking in more than $2 billion.
Observers are already predicting that Avengers: Endgame could bring in more than $800 million worldwide during its opening weekend.
Avengers: Endgame premieres in the U.S. on April 26, 2019.