Disney Attempts To Ride ‘Marvel Rivals’ Coattails, Announces Regal Cinema Pre-Sale Tickets For ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Will Come With Exclusive In-Game Skin
Well, that’s one way to boost box office numbers – As Marvel Rivals continues to set the video game-world ablaze, Disney has moved to cash-in on the hero shooter’s current popularity by offering an exclusive in-game item bundle to any and all Regal Cinemas patrons who purchase a ticket to see the upcoming (and largely unwanted) Captain America: Brave New World.
RELATED: ‘Overwatch 2’ Sinks To Record Low Steam Player Count As ‘Marvel Rivals’ Takes The Internet By Storm
As any video game, comic book, or general Marvel fan who has been on the internet recently can attest, the NetEase-developed Marvel Rivals has been the absolute talk of the digital town ever since its release in December 2024, largely thanks to both its fresh and stylish take on the hero shooter genre as well as its genuine dedication to respecting its source material.
And this read of its popularity is not an exaggeration: Per Steam data aggregation service SteamDB, in its little-over-a-month-long lifespan, Marvel Rivals has managed to not only post the platform’s 14th highest ‘peak consecutive player count’ of all time (644,429), but also become its second-most actively played game, in doing so beating out Dota 2 but slotting in right behind, unsurprisingly, Counter-Strike 2.
Meanwhile, the sentiment surrounding Captain America: Brave New World has been quite the opposite, to the say the least.
Between its adaptation of a comic book premise that most don’t care for, its continual reshoots (and subsequently balooning budget), and production at perhaps the lowest quality point of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s overall history, pre-release materials surrounding Sam Wilson’s big adventure have been met with little more than eye-rolling, mockery, and disinterest not just from fans, but even general audiences.
But in a stroke of luck for Captain America: Brave New World, thanks to its multiple, multiple delays, it had the fortune of releasing in the same general timeframe as Marvel Rivals, thus allowing Disney and Marvel Studios to promote the film by banking on the game’s popularity.
To this end, on January 17th, the aforementioned Regal Cinemas announced that any ticket for the MCU sequel purchased within the next four weeks (in other words, the offer comes to an end on February 17th) will come with a complementary promo code for an exclusive in-game bundle, its contents including a spray of Red Hulk holding Captain America’s shield, a nameplate featuring Sam Wilson extending the wings on his Falcon-Cap suit, and an as-of-yet unrevealed skin.
Given the characters set to appear in the film and those currently available on the game’s roster, current speculation suggests that the costume will be a ‘Red Hulk’ outfit for the eponymous Jade Giant (while some fans have speculated that Captain America may receive a ‘Falcon Cap’ outfit, the fact that they’d have to have a record a new set of voice lines for the skin in order to avoid any outrage or controversy leaves this a very, very unlikely possibility).
However, while this final piece of the bundle currently remains a mystery, what is known is that – in a bit of bad news for players hoping to just buy a ticket for the code – its contents will only be given to those customers whose tickets “are scanned by the applicable Participating Theatre’s personnel.”
Or, as Regal also bluntly states: “No Code will be issued in connection with any refunded Purchase or any unused or unscanned ticket.“
Now, in the interest in fairness, it should be noted that this collaboration was likely already confirmed well before anyone at Disney, NetEase, or among the general public knew how much of a smash hit Marvel Rivals would turn out to be – after all, such media cross-promotions are very a common thing (just look at the addition of pretty much any character to Fortnite).
But regardless of intent, what makes this move particularly noteworthy is that it ultimately represents. Captain America: Brave New World‘s best chance at at a ‘last-minute pre-sale bump’ – and sadly for Disney, even if every paying Marvel Rivals player in the world bought a ticket to see this movie, the film would still be on track for an overall disastrous box office reception.
All in all, Regal Cinemas customers can begin receiving their Marvel Rivals bundles when Captain America: Brave New World finally flies into theaters on February 14th.
And just as a final reminder: To get the bundle, one has to buy their ticket to see Brave New World at a Regal Cinemas location by February 17th and then subsequently get their ticket scanned at the physical theater.
For those curious as to the full details and official rules of the promotion, this information can be found on Regal’s official website.
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