It was looking iffy there for a while, but Disney chief Robert Iger has confirmed that the record-shattering Marvel blockbuster's follow-up is on the way some time after the next installments of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, all due between 2013-2014.
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The U.S. military has a history of joining forces with Hollywood. Michael Bay's Transformers franchise and Peter Berg's Battleship have cozied up to the military to take advantage of defense material, while the Pentagon gets to market itself to moviegoers. (To say nothing of the recent Navy SEAL showcase Act of Valor.) So how did The Avengers not make the cut?
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God bless TMZ, which not only went digging for the truth about the Great Avengers Shawarma-Joke Caper of 2012 (no spoilers here, but: "At Ro Ro's Chicken — a famed Lebanese joint in Hollywood — the manager says shawarma sales jumped 80% in the days after the movie opened") but also accompanied its findings with a photo of the Marvel superheroes gazing lustily at a Middle Eastern platter that appears to be... not shawarma?
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The Avengers had an even better weekend than initially thought. The Academy sets up a new outdoor screening venue and it looks like Kick-Ass is getting a sequel. Those are among the spotlights in Monday afternoon's Biz Break round up. Also in the mix, Arnold Schwarzenegger picks up a gig and actor Mark Ruffalo's Twitter account gets hacked.
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The Avengers probably wouldn’t ever find itself compared to The Cabin in the Woods if the two films hadn’t been released within weeks of each other. As it is, moviegoers have had a virtual feast of familiar tics laid before us by writer-director-geek hero Joss Whedon. My Whedon fatigue is well-documented, so I was pleasantly surprised to find some of his schtick to be the best part of The Avengers. It’s not a straight-up assessment of quality -- I liked The Cabin in the Woods better overall than The Avengers – but some of Whedon’s usual crutches worked better under the restrictions of the big-budget blockbuster than they did in the small, indie, meta-horror film, where he could let his id run wild. On the Whedonism scale of distracting to effective, here are four familiar tropes that worked well in The Avengers.
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Congratulations Marvel’s The Avengers, you win. But some people did break away from the mobs to see something different. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel did a fine job launching in 27 theaters, grossing $750,000 for a $27,789 average. Pretty good, all things considered, and only a tad shy of last weekend’s $30,000 per-theater average for Richard Linklater's Bernie. Meanwhile, the people behind the latter film weren’t shy singing its praises. “Bernie is a potential crossover hit best reviews of [Jack] Black’s career. His audience could show up big,” Cinetic’s John Sloss told us. His company sold the film to Millennium back in July and he’s still looking out for it on a sunny Sunday... Read more at Deadline.
Marvel's The Avengers broke virtually every box-office record known to Hollywood over the weekend, becoming the first film to surpass $200 million domestic on an opening weekend and hurtling toward $1 billion worldwide in what should be a matter of days. Consider the superhero gauntlet thrown down before The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises. Your Weekend Receipts (for what they're worth) are here.
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Just when you think you've had enough of this week's Avengers hype, along comes perhaps the most irresistible bit of culture to date around the Marvel blockbuster: "Begin by outlining the cookie in your base color. (If you were starting with The Hulk, outline the entire shape in green. Color in your outline with green icing and cover the entire cookie. You can actually use a paintbrush to 'paint' your cookie.) Give the base a few minutes to dry and choose your next color. For The Hulk’s hair, outline his hairline in black and proceed to fill in with black icing. You can continue to draw features in and watch your character come to life." Take that, Jollibee! Find more kind of awesome Avengers party tips (DIY comic-book placemats!) here. [via Ricky Eisen]
Cinco de Mayo weekend will surely belong to Marvel's The Avengers, which has already racked up $18.7 million in U.S. grosses courtesy of last night's midnight screenings. The superhero filled adventure has been pegged as possibly this year's biggest box office draw — time will tell. But for those who want to check out something else besides superheroes (or want to resuscitate from its aftermath) there are plenty of specialty releases opening this weekend including Fox Searchlight's India-set The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Sundance Selects' dance doc First Position, ATO's water doc Last Call at the Oasis, Kathleen Turner starrer The Perfect Family. And, if you need a little more Samuel L. Jackson in your life post-Avengers, check out his other opener Meeting Evil.
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About 20 minutes into a 3-D press screening of The Avengers Monday night in Los Angeles, one member of the audience interrupted the superhero theatrics to make it known that all was not right with his viewing experience. “Fix the projector!” the exasperated gentleman bellowed during a conspicuously quiet moment, as Mark Ruffalo’s contemplative face filled the screen. Something was very off, giving the complainant and others in attendance a less-than-ideal, even disastrous presentation. The only problem? There was nothing wrong with the projector.
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Remember that 1998 movie adaptation of the old British TV show The Avengers, starring Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman? Me neither, but set artist Stephen Morahan does — if only because he was reminded after working on this week's Marvel blockbuster of the same name: "[I]t looks a bit odd on your resume. So, I made this before, now it's something completely different. And when you talk about it, people don't even know about the other film. it didn't do very well. I mean, that's another big difference, too. The original Avengers was a big flop. It bombed." [Huffington Post]
A 'lost' 1995 interview with late Apple guru Steve Jobs and the expected $100M opener of Avengers are among Wednesday afternoon's round up of news in Biz Breaks. Also, Disney's former chief Michael Eisner is raising big cash for a new venture, Gary Ross is in talks for Houdini and more.
Avengers fans, fear not! You'll find no spoilers for this Friday's big tentpole herein. Just know this: You're going to want to stay through the end credits for the expected post-credits bonus scenes that Marvel Studios are known to slide into their films, because The Avengers reportedly contains not one, but two of 'em. Looks like Robert Downey Jr. wasn't lying about filming the day after the premiere! (Wait, does that mean Joss led us all astray?) Oh, fine. If you can't stand the not knowing, bang it here for details. [@thefilmcynic, SuperheroHype]
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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Given Mark Ruffalo’s reported six-picture deal with Marvel Studios to portray mild-mannered scientist Bruce Banner and his rage monster alter ego The Hulk in multiple movies after this week’s The Avengers – and considering how well his take on the iconic comic book character plays, both as Banner and the beast — it seems safe to say that the indie veteran’s first superhero outing won’t be his last. But before The Avengers director Joss Whedon came calling, Ruffalo admits he wasn’t so sure he could pull off such a task. “I didn’t have the confidence to do it,” he told Movieline, “and no one was coming to me with those kinds of parts.”
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