The Oscars are staying put for another 20 years, and before Scarlett Johansson joined the Avengers, another superhero was in line for the feature. Read on for that revelation and more in Tuesday's latest Biz Break.
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The Avengers (titled Avengers Assemble in the UK) exploded at the UK box office with £15.78 million — or roughly $25.6 million — over the weekend, including its Thursday preview screenings, giving the superhero film the winning spot among British releases. And coming in the heels of John Carter (which has yet to even break the £5m mark in Britain), Disney is wasting no time celebrating, calling the result the biggest superhero-movie opening of all time, The Guardian reports.
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This morning's Biz Break includes news of Webby Award winners, more Hulk gigs for Mark Ruffalo, a Rascal-y pick up by Warner Bros. and a new venture by the founder of Summit Entertainment.
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The Avengers is less a movie than a novelization of itself, an oversized, self-aware picture designed mostly for effect: That of reliving the experience of a movie you’ve seen before and just can’t get enough of. The picture is broken down into narrative chunks that ultimately don’t tell much of a story – what you get instead is a series of mini-climaxes held together by banter between characters. The idea, maybe, is that people already love Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk and Thor so much — like, so, so much — that all a filmmaker really needs to do is put them all into a big stock pot filled with elaborate set pieces and some knowing dialogue and he’s golden. And maybe, given the heightened-lowered expectations of movie audiences, that really is all he has to do: It's possible to have looked forward to a movie all year, to enjoy watching it, and then to have completely forgotten about it the following week.
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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]
Okay, Terryl Whitlatch: We'll forgive you now for Jar Jar Binks. Take a gander at the neat-o sketches by the illustrator and Lucasfilm creature creator (who's responsible for concocting the most annoying character known to the Star Wars universe and maybe mankind) in which members of Marvel's The Avengers are re-envisioned... as dinosaurs. Why not?
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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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This just in from the Avengers press conference in Beverly Hills, where Robert Downey Jr. may or may not be messing with the assembled press a la Tony Stark: "We are shooting one more scene [for The Avengers]... tonight. Not kidding." Aaand with that mysterious cliffhanger, Downey and his fellow superheroes exited the stage. What does it mean? UPDATE: Joss Whedon reacts: "He's Robert, of course he's kidding." Well, it was fun while it lasted. And Downey did promise that nothing after his first answer would be sincere. Stay tuned for Movieline's full report from the Avengers junket!
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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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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In a new interview over at The Hollywood Reporter, Jeremy Renner gets real about his on-the-brink career and personal life -- like, so real you'll want to give him a hug and then buy all the tickets for Bourne just to help him on his humble way towards megamillionaire action hero status. He's either a calculatedly brilliant PR strategist or a walking country song. Either way, this dog-loving, single dude, does-his-own-stunts part-time house-flipper is sure to endear himself to all four quadrants with this profile-boosting piece. Oh Jeremy Renner, don't be so sad!
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Marvel and Disney have officially released a clip from The Avengers, with Scarlett Johansson kicking ass in a cocktail dress while bound to a chair. I would go on, but you've seen it all before: It is basically the same fight scene Jason Statham staged last year in Killer Elite, except with boobs. Click through to view both.
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In addition to announcing their Tribeca closing night bow, Marvel recently unveiled the full track listing for their upcoming Avengers companion album, comprised of "music from and inspired by" the May 4 superhero flick. Among the hot bands of today yesterday contributing future hits to the soundtrack? Soundgarden! Papa Roach! Bush! And the kicker: Evanescence. Now, I know these major recording artists have been around since their respective heydays in the '90s and '00s, but really, Avengers? I haven't had this kind of knee-jerk reaction to a movie soundtrack since I revisited the abomination that was the soundtrack to 1998's Godzilla.
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