Merry Christmas, Marvel fans! Netflix has announced that it will add Avengers: Infinity War on December 25. Easily the most anticipated and highest grossing film of 2018, Infinity War was released to theaters in April, and Blue Ray/DVD in July. Multiple MCU hits, including Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Age of Ultron have to come to Netflix post-theatrical release for subscribers to enjoy. This announcement means that families everywhere will be popping popcorn and huddling around their televisions come the end of December.

This year, Marvel fans who get their fix through Netflix were hit by the bad news that future MCU films won’t be coming to the streaming service, due to Disney launching it’s own streaming platform, Disney Plus. It’s therefore likely that Ant-Man & The Wasp will be the last MCU movie to come to Netflix, and Captain Marvel and Avengers 4 will be available for streaming exclusively through Disney Plus, along with multiple franchises from Walt Disney Studios, Pixar, and Lucasfilm. The Netflix original Marvel television series will be staying put, although Daredevil season three suggested that continuity between the TV universe and the MCU may not carry forward. Disney Plus is also planning to develop their own Marvel universe TV series, including a Falcon and Winter Soldier story and a Loki-centric series.

Netflix tweeted the announcement that Infinity War will arrive by Christmas morning with a  GIF of Thanos ominously emerging from the shadows. The post has already garnered more than 5,000 likes and 1,500 retweets, with fans preparing to re-live that shocking ending all over again. Check out the tweet below:

The choice to make this announcement close to Thanksgiving may have been in hopes of inspiring early planning for holiday viewing parties, as Christmas Day preparations speed up. A December 25 release will definitely provide some valuable competitive insights into how many subscribers set aside some holiday time for Infinity War, and over how many days.

2018’s Christmas Day also won’t have as much heavy viewership competition compared to other years. While December will have some big box office entries like Aquaman, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bumblebee, and Mary Poppins Returns, none of them are scheduled for December 25th, or carry the weight of Infinity War. Even Doctor Who, which generally achieves a sizable audience for its annual Christmas episode won’t be airing one this year. For die hard Netflix users dreading having to choose between it and another streaming service, this holiday release may act as a reminder of all the great movies and shows it’s offered, and its track record of providing the content audiences crave.

MORE: Avengers 4: 15 Things We Know Will Happen (And 15 We Hope Do)

Source: Netflix

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