Prior to its opening this Friday, Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” has already set a new record as Fandango’s #1 family pre-seller of all time, with “Beauty” pre-sales (through Monday night) already eclipsing total pre-sales for any other family film in Fandango’s 17-year history.

“Beauty” is outpacing the previous family pre-seller champ, “Finding Dory,” and superhero movies like “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” at the same point in the Fandango sales cycle.

“Beauty” is also scoring a rare 99 out of 100 points on Fandango’s movie buzz indicator, Fanticipation, and is easily beating the monstrous March box office hits, “Kong: Skull Island” and “Logan,” in this weekend’s sales.

“The anticipation to see Emma Watson as ‘Beauty’ is sky high,” says Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis. “This weekend will see a perfect storm of family audiences, date night audiences and old and new friends gathering en masse at the multiplex to see one of the year’s most anticipated movies.”

According to a Fandango survey of more than 1,000 “Beauty and the Beast” moviegoers:

• 95% have seen the original animated classic; 68% own it at home.
• 84% have been Emma Watson fans since her “Harry Potter” days.
• 52% say the new songs by Alan Menken & Tim Rice increased their interest in the movie.
• 44% will see the movie with their families; 43% will see the film with a date, significant other or friend.

About Fanticipation
Known for having its finger on the pulse of moviegoers, Fandango’s movie buzz indicator, Fanticipation, provides statistical insight into the movies fans are planning to see in a given weekend. Fanticipation scores (based on a 1 to 100-point scale) are calculated via an algorithm of Fandango’s advance ticket sales, website and mobile traffic, and social media engagement. Fanticipation is not intended as a forecast of the weekend box office; it is a snapshot of movie fan sentiment. Fandango is the ultimate digital network for all things movies, reaching more than 60 million unique visitors per month across its portfolio of digital properties, according to comScore.