The Amazing Digital Circus finale hits $7.5 million in theater presales weeks before debut

The Amazing Digital Circus has already sold $7.5 million worth of tickets for its finale “The Last Act,” which will hit more than 5,000 theaters in 90 countries.

In case you’re somehow not aware of TADC, it follows a group of humans trapped in a mysterious world run by an AI who sends them on harrowing “adventures” for their own enrichment–and his own amusement. It was created by writer/animator/songwriter Gooseworx, and released on YouTube by Sydney-based studio Glitch Productions.

TADC‘s first episode dropped in October 2023, and since then, seven more have been released. In total, the story so far has racked up over 1.2 billion views and generated enormous fan attention.

Based on that fan attention, Glitch decided to give the series finale a special theater release bundling episodes 8 and 9. It scheduled that release through Fathom Entertainment, which now tells IndieWire that “The Last Act” broke its presale records, and is up to $7.5 million so far.

Fathom’s other theater distributions include a 2024 rerelease of Coraline that made $34 million, the annual Studio Ghibli Fest, and a compilation of episodes from Christian show The Chosen; that last one was the previous presale record holder, and helped pave the way for TADC‘s single-episode release deal.

Kevin Lerdwichagul, Glitch’s CEO, said the studio began looking into theatrical distribution for the final episode late last year.

“Me and my brother, we literally grew up being in fandoms ourselves,” he said. “We were part of multiple anime fandoms growing up, and we knew how the relationship connection that fans would have to a show or any IP would be, and because we grew up in that kind of environment, we understood the internet really well.

“We kind of created that community and fandom through our shows, through Glitch itself, and once you have that community, being able to present them with a theatrical opportunity like this, or any event, becomes a lot easier,” he added.

With Fathom, Glitch expects “The Last Act” to go out to more than 2,100 theaters in the U.S. alone. It’ll also (like Markiplier‘s recent self-made hit Iron Lung) get its own custom popcorn bucket.

While 5,000+ screens across 90 countries is a sizable rollout, Lerdwichagul told IndieWire his team was only able to get “The Last Act” to 40-50% of countries that wanted to host it. That’s due to regulations and other logistical challenges, he explained, noting that Glitch never built the muscle for brick-and-mortar theater distribution, since it releases all its content on YouTube and other digital platforms.

Glitch also talked about these struggles in a recent X post, saying, “If there’s been any theatre cancellations or an inability to enter a region, we want you to know that we’ve been trying our best. There’s ratings compliance, security policy and legal rules specific to EACH country and theatre chains that we are trying to navigate around the clock.”

The studio added that some countries “are straight up rejecting our distribution because there are censorship laws and we refuse to change the original version of this show.”

“This however, does not mean we aren’t still trying relentlessly to enter these regions. We also want this finale to be accessible in as many countries as possible,” Glitch said.

The fact that “The Last Act” isn’t going to be available in every theater globally, and that it’s releasing in theaters 15 days before it goes up on YouTube, has sparked intense backlash from fans who feel they’re being gatekept by the cost of a ticket and are entitled to see the finale immediately, without having to worry about avoiding spoilers from theatergoers.

But, considering the ticket sales, it’s clear other fans are able and willing to support independent creators with their wallets.