Box office round up

As you would expect thanks to no competition and resound popularity, Avengers: Infinity War is landing back on top of the box office this weekend. The movie only dropped a respectable 46.1 percent in its third frame, and opened with a fantastic $200 million in China. It is now the fifth highest grossing film worldwide, and is currently on track to cross the $2 billion mark, a feat only three other films have accomplished -- Avatar, Titanic, and The Force Awakens. 

The real test for it will be Deadpool 2 opening next week. With some real competition in the exact same genre we'll be able to see how Infinity War's legs are and thus how well it will do both domestically and globally. It'll have to stand up pretty strong to hope to out earn the forever legs of Black Panther, but it could do it. And don't misinterpret this as the film under-performing in any way. This is more of a discussion of if it will make stupid amounts of money or really stupid amounts of money. Either way, Disney will be Scrooge McDucking it for years to come off this box office.

1. Avengers: Infinity War - $61,817,000
2. Life of the Party - $18,500,000
3. Breaking In - $16,500,000
4. Overboard - $10,100,000
5. A Quiet Place - $6,400,000
6. I Feel Pretty - $3,710,000
7. Rampage - $3,380,000
8. Tully - $2,240,000
9. Black Panther - $1,932,000
10. RBG - $1,165,000

The post Last week for Avengers?: Infinity War to be on top? appeared first on Destructoid.

Box office round up

We all knew that Avengers: Infinity War was going to demolish the box office, which it did to a tune of $250 million, but what's stunning is that it actually out performed expectations. Yes, a movie with stunningly high expectations, did better than everyone imagined. It's like the straight A student getting some sort of grade no one knew existed until they got it. Analysts predicted that the movie would open with the second or third highest opening weekend of all time, but the movie powered to the number one spot toppling Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Yup, Marvel is bigger than Star Wars (of course both are Disn??ey products so they're rich eit??her way).

Given this opening, the positive response to the film, and the general fact that Marvel movies got legs for days it's not unlikely that the film will become the top grosser of all time. This is especially true because there is nothing that's going to come even close to challenging it until the end of May when Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story land. This thing is going to bring in large s?ums of money f?or months to come.

Speaking of bringing in money, Black Panther also had a stellar weekend, cracking the top 5 of the?? box office. If it continues appearing in the top ten, and there's no reason it shouldn't, it will hold this year's record for longest stint at 13 weeks. It's already made $1.33 bil?lion worldwide and $700 million domestic.

Disney is making all the m??oney over the next few weeks. 

1. Avengers: Infinity War - $250,000,000
2. A Quiet Place - $10,650,000
3. I Feel Pretty - $8,130,000
4. Rampage - $7,105,000
5. Black Panther - $4,381,000
6. Super Troopers 2 - $3,600,000
7. Blumhouse's Truth or Dare - $3,210,000
8. Blockers - $2,945,000
9. Ready Player One - $2,435,000
10. Traffik - $1,620,000

The post Guess what movie came in number one this weekend appeared first on Destructoid.

Why yes, this post does contain spoilers

(Ed: No, but seriously, spoilers.)

There is dead silence more than two hours into my screening of Avengers: Infinity War. Nobody moves a muscle. Nobody eats. Nobody whispers or gets up or adjusts themselves in their seats. It is a still as it should have been when I saw A Quiet Place -- stupid nacho-eating bastard behind me -- when Thanos reassembles the final Infinity Stone. The unthinkable has happened. 10 years of films, good and bad, has led up to this. I don't want to look away from the screen, but I'm panicking wondering how long I've been watching ??this film, frightful we're nearing the?? end. I want to check my phone to see if there is enough time for one final, massive battle.

There isn't. With a snap of a f??i??nger, it’s over, and those of us who have been there since the beginning are left in an unfamiliar situation: one where we lose. A decade of world-building ends with half of it wiped out. As I sit there watching so many of my favorite heroes fade from existence, I don’t feel sad or shocked or any emotion I’m sure the Russo brothers are hoping I feel. Instead, the sight of Black Panther turning the dirt brings just one thought to my mind…

None of this matters.

Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched, Marvel and Kevin Feige have been quite forward with their plans for the franchise. Nothing was to be a surprise. Though Iron Man first released a decade ago, plans for this co??nne??cted universe sprouted up as early as 2005.

We knew what was coming. There would be Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, a Nick Fury film that never happened, and an Ant-Man film that got delayed to another phase of the project. These films would introduce the characters, each already with some level of public awareness behind them, who would team up for Marvel’s The Avengers. If successful, it would achieve an unprecedented transition from comics to screen, raising the benchmark for what it means to be a blockbuster franchise. More important, it would turn filmgoers who may have never picked up a comic boo?k in their life into Marvel faithful.

And it worked. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is now, and probably always will be, the highest grossing film franchise in history. Five of its films have pulled in more than a billion dollars worldwide with Infinity War sure to be the sixth. It’s become a part of our culture the same way Star Wars did more than 40 years ago. And just like Star Wars, this universe grew from that first set of films. As it did, the audience was kept abreast of every st?ep alon??g the way. 

The reveal of the Marvel Phases became media events. We knew about a sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger before the first film had even released. We knew about Thor: The Dark World before he helped save Earth in The Avengers. Phase 3 was detailed in October of 2014, months before Age of Ultron released. It was awesome to see Marvel would finally make a Captain Marvel film -- f?ive years later -- but it also confirmed fans shouldn’t expect much in the way of bi??g changes. The heroes we love weren’t going anywhere.

Knowing what’s ahead takes a bit of fun out of the whole experience and can absolutely crush any attempts at earth-shattering revelations or twists. How righteous would it have been for Tony Stark to die at the hands of Ultron? A man struck down by his own hubris; a dramatic end for a war profiteer who found redemption but couldn’t defeat the demons that drove him. That would be some bold, Transformers: The Movie shit right there.

But that was never going to happen. Marvel Films has always had a pussyfooted approach to killing characters and because of industry buzz and entertainment websites, we knew Robert Downey Jr. was going to appear in Captain America: Civil War and what was then known as Infinity War: Part I and II. Maybe that’s wh?y Feige has been so coy with Phase 4.

Based on how Marvel has acted in the past, it should be clear by now which four to five films will make up the next slate of releases. But that’s not the case. ??There’s been no big Phase 4 showcase, no massive Comic-Con panel detailing the new heroes and returning favorites. And yet, despite that, we already know.

The entertainment industry can’t stop talking about the future, and in doing so, it dismisses the possibilities of the present. James Gunn, prior to the release of Guardians Vol. 2, announced he would return for a third film in the series because he knew that would be the number one question he’d be asked on the press junket. The media is obsessed with what’s?? next, feeding an audience that shares in that obsession as many insignificant bits of information it can. Our desire to know everything before we’re supposed to is why there are dozens of articles analyzing the contracts of principle actors or deducing why a certain character is missing from the theatrical poster. We’re a society that just can’t let films be, and even when it tries to keep things hush-hush, Marvel can’t help tripping over itself.

Two films are officially confirmed for the post-2019 Avengers era: Guardians Vol. 3 and a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming. Sequels generally mean characters tend to live through catastrophic events, so with those films coming, we have a good idea of who’s going to escape the wrath of the Infinity Gauntlet. It's fine if not everyone comes out unscathed. Thanos throwing Gamora to her death is an absolute jaw-dropper of a moment, one that shows Marvel can be as daring as Lucasfilm was when it let Rian Johnson tear the Star Wars universe asunder.

But you’re not going to make a Spider-Man film without Peter Parker or a Guardians film without Star-Lord. You’re also not going to make a Black Panther movie without T’Challa. We know there is a sequel on the way, Feige confirmed as much in an interview earlier this year with Entertainment Weekly. It hasn’t officially been announced, but it’s coming. There is also talk of another Dr. Strange film, but it seems future p?lans for that character have been kept under tighter wraps than his Phase 2 and Phase 3 cohorts.

The element of the unexpected is crucial for a film like this. Massive crossovers in Marvel Comics have a history of packing themselves with meaningful character deaths. For much of the movie, from Loki and Heimdall’s demise to the tragic end of Gamora, Infinity War has me right where it wants me. I'm hooked. I tell myself consequential death is finally coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And at the end of the ?film, as I watch Bucky Barnes turn into dust, I think, “Oh my god, they’re actually going to do it.” 

Then the weight of reality crushes?? that notion as a majority of the Guardians of the Galaxy are wiped from existence.

Killing Gamora is one thing. Her death is important and if she's brought back this whole franchise can go fuck itself. Wiping out the rest of the Guardians when many in ??the audience are fully aware a sequel is on the way dilutes the impact of what should be a highly emotional scene. T’Challa fades from existence like he’s nothing, but it doesn’t matter because Feige has already pledged to give him a sequel. Peter Parker’s heart-wrenching exit from this world is undercut b??y the knowledge his stand-alone sequel starts shooting in London this year.

In a vacuum, the ending to Infinity War is monumental. It’s exactly what the MCU needs after playing it safe for so long. But the audience doesn’t exist in a vacuum. On social media, on YouTube, and on television, we’re bombarded by entertainment news and snippets meant only to spoil the storytelling of film. And if it’s not the news, it’s the trailers for the movies that give away every goddamn plot point (looking at you, final trailer for Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom). We’re s??o obsessed with l??earning if a movie will get a sequel, and if that sequel will become a trilogy, that the focus of the story being told right here, right now is lost.

Films are simply better when they’re not beholden to upcoming projects because anything and everything can be on the line if there is no guarantee of a future. Galahad’s death in Kingsman: The Secret Service carries significant weight because, as far as we knew, that was the only film we’d see him in. It’s not the same watching Tom Holland or Chris Pratt or Chadwick Boseman d??ie because we all know they have projects in the works. Marvel just can’t stop itself from spoiling its films and the press can’t stop asking those questions that take away a filmmaker’s right to surprise their audience.

Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe this is really happening and Feige will reveal the Guardians Vol. 3 announcement was just a ruse to catch people off guard. Maybe Marvel somehow talked Sony out of making another Spider-Man film -- because that seems like a totally real possibility. Maybe everyone was just joking when they said Ryan Coogler can make another Black Panther when he’s ready. I would love for all that to be true. Seriously, do you know what a fucking boss move it would be to have Marvel kill off Spider-Man and Black Panther? I woul??d have such mad respect for a company willing to display that large of cojones.

But Marvel is not that company. It couldn’t even bother to kill War Machine when it had the perfect opportunity, eliminating the already low-level stakes of Captain America: Civil War. Avengers: Infinity War is a good movie, perhaps the perfect film adaptation of a massive, comic book crossover. Nowhere is th??at more evident than its post-credit scen??e. But its significance is undercut by the business of making movies and the internet’s unquenchable thirst to know everything there is about a film long before the opening credits first roll.

The post The impact of Avengers: Infinity War is undone by Marvel’s inability to keep its mouth shut appeared first on Destructoid.

This is not going to go the way you think

Yes, I invoked The Last Jedi, and no that's not because I want to instantly guarantee 11 million comments on the post. It's because, like that film but to a lesser extent, Avengers: Infinity War is not the movie you're expecting, often throwing what you'd thought you'd get away and delivering something you didn't know you wanted. It is, at times, melancholy, silent, thoughtful, emotional, and completely devoid of action. Major action set pieces disappear from the film for long stre??tches while it -- shocker -- develops its characters, only to return all the more powerful and complex because of it.

This isn't to say that Infinity War isn't big and bold and prolific and full of everything you've come to expect from Marvel, but it's also quiet in ways you wouldn't even have thought??. And this all stems from the least likely culprit for a Marvel movie: the villain.

Avengers: Infinity War
Directors: Joe and Anthony Russo
Rated: PG-13
Release Date: April 27, 2018

I am not about to recap 10 years and 18 films worth of plot line for you, so if you don't have a decent grasp of what's been going on in the MCU over the last decade then this might not make any sense. That being said, Thanos (Josh Brolin) has finally located all of the Infinity Stones, which have played a part throughout the films, and if united under the control of one being give that person ultimate power over everything. Since he's located them he's on a quest to get them so that he can eradicate half the population of the entire universe. This will, according to him, end starvation, poverty, overcrowding and every other issue that plagues the universe. Obviously, the good guys aren't really down with that and the entire cast of every Marvel movie?? joins together (with a few surprises removed and thrown in) to stop him.

The film's plot plays out as most crossover comic book events usually do. Some heroes go one way to do one thing while other heroes go another way to do another thing and it all culminates with a massive, universe spanning battle. It's what happens in the small notes that makes Infinity War work, especially when it comes to Thanos, who the movie probably spends the most time with. See, this movie isn't actually about the Avengers. It's about Thanos. He's the main character of the film and unlike other Marvel films (*cough* Age of Ultron *cough*) he is given the room to become a character outside of being a big bad. A running issue among the Marvel films is that ??the villains are given short shrift despite being some of the most interesting characters, this is not the case for Thanos. He is the lead of this movie and he is the emotional and thematic core to the film. It is a stunning shift in focus from the previous films, and?? a good one.

The Mad Titan could have easily been handled with the simple air of a monster coming to destroy the earth, and our heroes yet again learning that they have to work as a team to win. But Marvel has done that twice over now, and they're smart enough to know that. Instead, they treat Thanos almost as the hero of the film, with Brolin growl?ing out his lines like almost no one else could. It's hard to discuss much without spoiling things, but there are moments in this movie where Brolin and the Russo brothers make you feel for a giant, purple CGI alien guy hellbent on killing half the universe. It's a far more somber tone than the films have taken previously, and yet it feels right in line with the direction the Avengers films have been heading. 

That's not to say that the Avengers, Guardians, and side characters galore don't get their own time to shine. Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) storyline is especially powerful and should quell the rage of those that found Thor: Ragnorok a bit too flippant with the character. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) has been building up to this confrontation since the first film, and it shows in his actions, while the Guardians team is yanked into darker themes than they've ever had to deal with.&nb?sp;

I hate to once again compare the DCEU to Marvel (that's a lie, it's tons of fun), but Marvel takes something that DC has been desperately trying to do and does it 100 times better. The movie is often dark and depressing, but unlike the likes of BvS it is never pessimistic or hopeless. DC has been trying to deliver an edge by dulling their colors and trudging their characters through the muck from the get g?o, while Marvel realizes that loss and anger and fear are all the more powerful wh??en there is hope and happiness and bravery to go alongside it. 

And competent direction. The Russo brothers have one hell of a knack for taking convoluted, massive casts and sorting them out into coherent and functioning storylines. Maybe it's because there's two of them so they can get a better grasp of these things, but where most movies of this size fall apart under their own weight (*cough* Age of Ultron *cough*) the Russos have now pulled it off twice in a row. They're not breaking new ground on the level of Black Panther or anything, but it help??s that they're probably some of the best action directors working at the moment, able to piece together massive sequences with a plethora of disparate activities into a cohesive whole. It's a testament to their ability to construct and pace not just action sequences, but the entire film, that a nearly three-hour movie ?never feels long or bloated.

While I said the action does go away for longer than expected stretches, one shouldn't assume that there is none. The film's climactic battle is climactic as fuck. It's about ten years worth of climax, and the greatest thing is they're still holding back. This isn't the real climactic battle--that's coming next year in the next Avengers film--and yet this battle is prolific, interweaving multiple planets, fights, and showdowns like a giant superhero ballet. There are team-up moments here that rival the feeling you got when you first saw Iron Man blast his laser into Cap's shield in the original The Avengers. 

It is not a perfect film, though. While the movie takes great care with Thanos, and its character development and plotting are good, there's still a plethora of characters crammed into this thing, and it can feel crowded at times. Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an especially weak point as he mostly seems there to advance the plot despite playing a major role. Maybe it's because it's still unclear what Marvel has planned for the character given they don't even have a sequel confirmed, but he's not the only one to get a short shrift. Teenage Groot (Vin Diesel) is mostly just a punchline, and, while it's par for the course, both Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and War Machine (Don Cheadle) are basically there just to fly around. Hell, even Captain America (Chris Evans) gets a bit jilted considering where we left him at the end of Civil War.

All that being said, this is, in essence, a two-part movie and should probably be considered as such. Given the amount of characters and story that's going into this, it's hard to begrudge them an inability to flesh out every character without the six-hour running time of both films. Infinity War has its own three-part structure, but its denouement is also clearly only ?the midpoint of a second act. Does that make it a weaker film on its own? Of course, but given that Marvel has constructed a movie universe that's built around multiple films I find that hard to be angry about. And given the ending of this movie, the ramifications that are going to unfold throughout the MCU deserve more than one film anyway.

I will also make mention of the humor since commenting on "Marvel humor" seems to be a thing. It's there in spades, but never in a way where it is out of character or out of place. Thor's initial scene with the Guardians is particularly funny, but Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Iron Man both get their zingers in as well. If this is an aspect you've hated about Marvel films, it's not going away, but unlike some others (*cough* Age of Ultron *cough*) it never feels out of place or forced. In fact, it balances out the darker tones of the film, never pushing into the more serious notes, but always dancing around to pull the movie back from the BvS brink. 

What more is there to say? It's good. You're going to enjoy it. You've already bought a ticket anyway so my opinion matters little. Marvel has pulled off a groundbreaking feat, that has changed the way the movie industry functions, and what we expect from our films. Ten years after Iron Man debuted, and the studio still kn?ows how to make u??s want more. 

The post Review: Avengers: Infinity War appeared first on Destructoid.

So basically just one giant throwdown

Get hype, people. 

Avengers: Infinity War is barrelling towards us like the damn hulkbuster, and with this new trailer it's hard not to get goosebumps. This is our best look yet at Thanos in action, and features a heavier dose of Dr. Strange,?? Spider-Man, and Gamora. What's insane is that you can still ask where half the ?prolific cast is, and all of that missing cast would be headliners in any other film.

We should also give credit where credit is due: Alan Silvestri's Avengers theme is right up there with some of Jo??hn Williams' classics. Its hard not to hear the them as the Avengers A comes on the screen and not feel like you need to go s??ee this movie right now. 

Whatever your feelings about Marvel'??s films, you gotta respect what they've done to pull this together. 

The post New ??Infinity War trailer drops as tickets ?go on sale appeared first on Destructoid.

Get your Clockwork Orange eye-opening headsets ready

Have you ever been watching a Marvel film and thought, "Man, I wish I could watch 31 hours of this non-stop to see if my brain would still work afterwards." Well, AMC is conducting a new research study that will allow you to do just that. In an effort to find the very limits of our ability to binge watch something the theater will be screening all of Marvel's films back-to-back, culminating, we assume, in the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War. 

What does 31 hours of Marvel include? No TV, obviously, but that should be all 18 movies from the company, starting with Iron Man. AMC started doing this back in 2015 with the release of Age of Ultron, and even back then it seemed ridiculous, but now it's verging on some sort of Russian sleep-deprivation study. If you committed to doing this you'd be awake for more than a day, and sitting in a theater for nearly all of that. Of course, if it's like the previous marathon, then you'll be able to get up and leave, but leaving is for the weak and your family would be shamed for generations??.

Tickets aren't on sale yet for the marathon, and it looks like AMC isn't giving up much info yet. We can assume the Marathon will start around 29 hours before the first screenings of Infinity War on April 27, bu??t we don't know which theaters will?? host this deadly gauntlet of comic book action.

So, who is up for it? I mean take-days-off-work, drink-six-cans-of-Red-Bull, and w?ish-your-fam??ily-goodbye up for it?

AMC Will Host 30+?? Hour MCU Marathon Ahead Of 'Avengers: Infinity War' Premiere [Comic Book]

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Glove slap, baby glove slap!

Lucky guests at the San Diego Comic-Con 2017 got to see this trailer back in late July, but since then, there's been little news of when the trailer might debut. That is until recent weeks when Avengers stars ?and its direc?tors have been leaking media and quotes non-stop. 

This movie purportedly has a scene with 32 characters and will feature 60 or more. This third Avengers film is the culmination of a successful cinematic universe world-building campaign that began with Iron Man back in 2008, nine years ago.

What do you think about the trailer? Are you more or less likely to see Avengers: Infinity War now?

Avengers: Infinity War will destroy the box office on May 4, 2018.

The post Avengers: Infinity War trailer says ‘What DCEU?’, blows minds appeared first on Destructoid.