Sorry to follow up news of The Avengers' record-breaking box office with just another ho-hum bit of Marvel Studios supremacy, but leave it to Edgar Wright to commit a little thunder thievery with his tweet reminding us not to forget about his long, long gestating Marvel adaptation Ant-Man.
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It has been years in the making. It is epic in scope. It contains elements beloved by millions. "It" is the marketing campaign for the hotly anticipated superhero gathering The Avengers, and as promotional surges go, those are high standards to maintain. Hence the $100 million worth of international promotional partnerships formed by Marvel and Disney — although, with such a global presence, it seems natural that a few of their marketing and merchandising moves would make less impact than Mjölnir. Behold the weirdest of what you may find touting the the comic-book blockbuster in the United States and beyond.
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The most revealing tidbit to come from talking with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is the idea that he equates box office success with the quality of a film – not the kind of mega-million dollar marketing campaigns that put characters’ faces on soda cans, or comic book fandoms that date back half a century, or any other factors that will surely help Marvel’s The Avengers seize the box office crown this Friday. Instead, with twelve years at Marvel and billions in box office under his belt, the exec who’s been integral to the new golden age of the superhero movie is still, refreshingly, idealistic when it comes to making movies: “Every time we actually do it, I get very excited and can’t believe that we pulled it off.”
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Marvel and Disney's The Avengers is set to close out the 11th Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday night, but the blockbuster has already started cashing in abroad, where it's an early hit with audiences. The superhero blockbuster featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson opened in 10 markets this week, earning a total of $17.1 million internationally. The haul included opening-day records in New Zealand and Taiwan, as well as new marks for a Disney release in Australia and Italy. As Bloomberg notes, the studio could use the hit after its recent $200 million loss on John Carter. [Bloomberg]
Weekend box-office sluggishness got you down? Oh. Well, either way, fortune tellers around Hollywood are saying the recent Avengers buzz has further heated up an already scorching prospect: Some tracking reports have Joss Whedon's Marvel-hero mash-up sailing beyond The Dark Knight's $158 million three-day mark from 2008, though Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2's all-time record of $169 million seems safe, 3-D and all. Stay tuned to Movieline for more box-office previews and projections — especially your own — as The Avenegers' May 4 release date draws near. [THR]
The cast of Marvel’s The Avengers were a spirited bunch Thursday in Beverly Hills, where the familial vibe amongst the likes of Robert Downey Jr., Samuel Jackson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and Mark Ruffalo was evident and mutual admiration, inside jokes, and startling revelations abounded. (Scarlett Johansson, alas, was absent due to a scheduling conflict.) Among the highlights: Ruffalo’s youthful Hulk inspiration, Jeremy Renner’s suggestive Hawkeye imagery (“[I] played with Thor’s hammer while he stroked my bow”), and one mysterious, maybe-still legit admission from Downey that the assembled Avengers would be filming a scene… that night. But, pray tell: Which Avenger possesses the best Dance Dance Revolution skills? SPOILERS AHEAD.
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The Avengers premiered last night in Los Angeles, where luminaries, cognoscenti and unalloyed geeks took in the Marvel megaspectacle as one, big nerdy family. Afterward, with tweets permitted by Disney reps (and full reviews embargoed until the first week of May), many of those viewers took to Twitter to exhort director Joss Whedon, the nonstop action, the humor, the Hulk, and basically anything that wasn't the "worthless" 3-D. Read on for a brief round-up. [UPDATE 2:10 p.m. PDT: And starting now you can follow Jen Yamato's Avengers press conference livetweet over at @Movieline!]
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This just in from Variety: "Ben Kingsley is in final talks to play the villain in Iron Man 3, but fans of the comic book character will be disappointed to learn he won’t take on original Tony Stark archenemy the Mandarin." Well, good. I for one am glad that Ben Kingsley will not be playing a Chinese guy. Instead, the Oscar-winning actor will reportedly play a baddie "involved in the spread of a virus through nanobots."
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If you wanted to remain completely spoiler-free going into this summer's modest little art pic The Avengers, too bad! Disney has gone ahead and ruined the surprise. So, fine. Captain America apparently does not perish at the end of The Avengers, but will indeed live on to deal with his personal issues in Captain America 2, due to hit theaters on April 14, 2014. Find the official word and a new image after the jump.
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The Tribeca Film Festival has announced The Avengers as the closing-night selection of its 11th annual event, where Joss Whedon's summer superhero blockbuster will have its New York premiere on April 28 — and for a good cause, according to Marvel and fest organizers.
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Avengers director Joss Whedon spent much of his weekend in Austin at SXSW pounding the pavement for The Cabin in the Woods (that is, when he wasn't busy dancing into the wee hours of the night) but he also managed to mostly deflect the laser geek gaze of the bloggerati when it came to divulging information about his upcoming Marvel superhero pick. That said, he did offer up one huge clarification on a matter Avengers fans have been trying to root out via various clues and tea leaves: Who are the villains under Loki's command?
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In February, a federal court threw out a suit filed by Stan Lee Media Inc. against Paradox Entertainment — a failed attempt for the plaintiff to regain the intellectual-property rights of the Conan comic character. It might seem odd enough that a company sues for a claim to the proceeds of a film that lost tens of millions of dollars last summer, but odder still is that Stan Lee himself — the comic-book mastermind responsible for The Avengers, X-Men, Spider-Man, and hundreds of other iconic characters — was neither the plaintiff nor the defendant in that suit.
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Marvel's The Avengers has the pressure of living up to years of hype resting on its shoulders, but a new trailer for the May 4 superhero pic looks promising, if not terribly complicated. Plot details, like what Loki's up to and why? Save it for the movie. This is the chance to give every one of the Avengers their close-up. Well, except for you, Hawkeye.
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On the eve of a new trailer debut, Marvel has released a new poster for May's superhero superteam pic The Avengers. Here you'll find all your favorite heroes gathered in various states of action and repose: There's Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) stalking her prey while Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) contemplates a sandwich, with Captain America (Chris Evans) having a senior moment in the background as Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) hogs the spotlight. Typical. Get a full look at the cut & paste wonderment after the jump.
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Bruce Lee as Spidey? Harvey Keitel as Wolverine? Now this is fantasy superhero casting I can get behind. Check out these and more pieces of gorgeous concept art from French artist/creature designer Alexandre Tuis, who racked his pop culture-loving memory banks to envision Marvel's most famous heroes as played by a roster of legends and favorite actors. Rutger Hauer as Thor? Come on now. Perfection.
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