Chinese Authorities Threaten Theaters with 'Avengers: Endgame' Cancellation Over Rising Ticket Prices

Avengers: Endgame advanced tickets have been a hot commodity in China, breaking the majority of pre-sale records in the market. The topic has become such a hot issue there, Chinese authorities are reportedly starting to crack down on price gouging practices by cinemas. According to a new report from Beijing Youth Daily (via South China Morning Post), theaters have started tacking on massive surcharges to the tickets, inflating them to around 300 yuan — or $45 — in value.

The report says authorities have since started telling theaters they're allowed to add surcharges and service fees not exceeding 10 percent of the ticket's total value otherwise they'll run the risk of being prohibited to show the Marvel Studios flick once it releases there on April 24th.

Avengers: Endgame has been performing admirably in advanced ticket sales, reportedly breaking the record held by Furious 8. The latest reports suggest Endgame has made upwards of ¥100m ($14.9m), topping the Fast & Furious franchise film by nearly ¥40m (~$6m).

Earlier in the week, ComicBook.com spoke with Exhibitor Relations' senior analyst Jeff Bock, who says if the movie comes in above expectations in China, it could very well be the highest-grossing film of all-time worldwide.

"If this opens at $900 million, a billion worldwide and obviously people love it as much as it's hyped-up for," Bock tells us. "That's a lot of return business...it's going to be very difficult to reach Avatar numbers. Now, that said, if China explodes like every body's talking about, the pre-sales there are even more stratospheric than they are here. Asia has been a huge Marvel component, in terms of the box office lately. If Asia comes through with huge numbers, yeah, we could be looking at something that finally unseats Avatar."

Avengers: Endgame zooms into theaters April 26th and will be followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 2nd.

How much do you thin Endgame will make in its first weekend in theaters? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or join the conversation online by hitting me up on Twitter at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things MCU!

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