(Yicai Global) March 29 -- The fourth installment of Marvel Studios' Avengers franchise, Avengers: Endgame, will hit Chinese movie theaters on April 24 -- two days before its release in North America and most of the rest of the world.

The California-based filmmaker announced the release on its official Weibo account at midnight today.

The franchise's previous film, Infinity War, did not come out on the Chinese mainland until May 11 last year, two weeks after most other countries. Many Chinese fans snuck online to watch the movie illegally or even headed to Hong Kong to avoid missing out.

This hampered the movie's performance at mainland cinemas, though it still raked in CNY2.4 billion (USD355 million) at the local box office, setting a new Marvel record for China.

Editor: James Boynton