The clock struck midnight Nov. 29 and tickets went on sale for Spider-Man: No Way Home. As moviegoers scrambled for seats, domestic movie ticket websites crashed within minutes.

Experts say it is a record that hasn’t been seen at the cinema since the outbreak.

Pandemics ravaged cinemas. They smashed demand and almost bankrupted many of the largest exhibitors in the sector. While the box office has struggled to recover, sustained momentum in the past six months suggests that there is hope for an eventual rebound.

Overnight is the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe installment, co-produced by Disney SonyThis has created even greater optimism. Ticketing sites like Atom Tickets, FandangoMovieTickets.com is a companion site to movie theatre sites such as AMC, CinemarkRegal noticed a surge in demand for tickets, which led many to place customers in hours-long queues online or crash.

Shawn Robbins chief analyst at BoxOffice.com stated that there are many levels of fan demand for box office films. “This film clearly shows it belongs close to the top along with only a few other films.” For anyone doubting the social appeal of theatre over the last two years, this excitement for “Spider-Man” is a significant inflection point during box office recovery and a sign of a bright future.”

This level of excitement has been absent from the box office since 2019, when tickets to “Avengers: Endgame”, and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” went on sale.

Many movie theater chains eagerly anticipated the arrival of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and some even offered additional incentives to encourage people to buy tickets to their opening night.

AMC has partnered up with Sony Pictures in order to bring you the best of both worlds. 86,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to members of its AMC Stubs Premiere, AMC Stubs A-List and AMC Investor Connect who ordered tickets for the Dec. 16 opening of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in advance.

Analysts at the box office were optimistic that Spider-Man’s latest film would gross over $100 million in December. However, this film’s high ticket demand is encouraging.

Based on data provided by Comscore, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man solo movies were successful at opening for $117 million in 2017, and $92 million in 2019.

Paul Dergarabedian (comscore senior media analyst), said that it would make sense for a Spider-Man film to be the first movie of the pandemic era to hit the $100 million mark. He also noted that Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man was the first film to gross more than $100m at the box-office.

“It shouldn’t surprise that prerelease tickets online for ‘No Way Home’ are almost breaking the internet, as eager fans line up to buy their tickets.

Disclosure: Comcast, the parent company for NBCUniversal (and CNBC), is Comcast. NBCUniversal owns Fandango.