The Avengers [Spoilers]

[trackercowe]

Originally Posted by nik-

Again, I loved the movie, however here is a reminder of why it is absolutely ridiculous that Marvel/Disney won't pay the actors like Terrence Howard and Ed Norton a real salary and just recast instead. Mickey Rourke was initially offered $250,000 for his role in Iron Man 2.

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=avengers11.htm

... 3 days.

I wouldn't blame them on most of those.

Terrence Howard demanded to be the highest paid cast member for the sequel; more than even RDJ! Sorry, but in no way could they allow that to happen. Maybe he was the "biggest" name for the first movie at the time, but that did not mean he deserved to be the highest paid actor for the second in a supporting role. Howard is supposedly not regarded highly in the movie world either (which is why he has been mostly a television actor recently).

Then there is Norton, who we all know is a talented actor; but Norton has been a major control freak on set since pretty much day one (American History X). He tried to force his input into the script of The Incredible Hulk, and even went as far as telling people that he was a co-writer of the movie (which really pissed the producers off). However, when they released the cut of the movie that was not to his satisfaction Norton sulked and refused to help promote the movies. He didn't do the red carpet treatment, or go on any talk shows. Liv Tyler was forced to take all that on, which probably hurt the movie at the box office. If Norton wasn't such a dick he would have been brought back (probably as the second lead behind Downey).

As for Rourke, the guy isn't really the biggest name, nor was he cast in the biggest role. I know he was in the middle of a renascence at the time, but he was still mostly doing straight to DVD movies. I imagine he was well compensated in the end, but don't forget even RDJ was paid less than a million in the first movie, so sacrifices have been made by many of the actors.

Finally don't forget that Marvel/Disney has committed billions to these movies, and they need to make cuts where they can. Look how much Disney lost out on John Carter; these movies are major risks. There was no guarantee Avengers was going to perform this well; Green Lantern was a failure, X-Men First Class didn't meet the expectations that the first series set, Captain America fared poorly overseas, and while Thor performed the best of them, it still did not come close to matching the usual heavyweights (Transformers, Harry Potter, Pirates, etc).

Obviously Avengers is going to beat their expectations, so hopefully that helps out in the production of future releases.

[nik-]

You legitimately think Ed Norton not doing talk shows hurts a franchise like the Hulk? I'm willing to bet absolutely zero of the target audience even cares. No one is getting their queues to watch these movies from an interview on Leno.

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Well one good thing about watching it in an imax theatre was that it was loud enough to keep me awake... hehe.

and just stop with comparing this to the Dark Knight. It's incomparable.

Who is comparing it to The Dark Knight? In my eyes TDK isn't really a comic book movie, more of a good drama action. The Avengers is not only a comic book movie, but the best one.

The last 90 minutes of this movie is better than anything that was in The Dark Knight. TDK had bigger plot holes than this movie did.

[nik-]

Yeah, the Dark Knight definitely had some pretty major issues that were overlooked because of Heath Ledger's performance.

[cDnStealth]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents. I saw the Avengers on Friday night and absolutely loved it. I agree with Cecil in that I think that they created one of the best comic book films of all time. The banter between the characters was perfect and the whole thing felt very true to the comics. Seeing the Helicarrier was awesome and something I honestly didn't expect to see on film. Watching the Hulk pummel the #### out of Loki was fantastic and one of the many highlights of the movie for me. The end fight was so well done. I loved watching the team ups such as when it cut to Iron Man flying in and firing a beam off Cap's shield.

Cecil brings up a great point that they succeed here because they don't try to change anything. The problem with films like Spider-man is that they forced changes where they didn't need to. Spider-man has been one of my favorite superheroes and I just could never really get into the movies because of their choices.

Yes I am going to complain about the lack of web shooters. It's a minor thing but in understanding the character it's actually really important. Peter Parker was a nerd, but he wasn't the awkward nerd that Toby portrayed him as. Parker has a confidence about him that Toby lacked. Parker is a pretty brilliant guy but he isn't unpopular. Hell, he has girls falling all over him in the comics. So by designing something like a web shooter it shows how smart he is even though his character isn't some pasty white nerd with zero social skills. He also made a very bad Spider-man. Spider-man is a cocky, sarcastic wise ass and Toby really failed at delievering this.

There are so many other things that I could complain about such as Dunst's terrible/cheesy portrayal of Mary Jane or the horrible costumes (looking at you Green Goblin). In the end, The Avengers is great because it avoids committing similar errors.

My only complaints are fairly minor in that I dislike Cap's uniform compared to the one he wore in First Avenger and that the film wasn't long enough. The thing that impresses me the most about this film is that they planned this since Iron Man. It could have easily been a turd of a film with all these characters and actors but they did an absolutely fantastic job of getting it right.

Originally Posted by nik-

Yeah, the Dark Knight definitely had some pretty major issues that were overlooked because of Heath Ledger's performance.

I get a lot of hate when I mention this, but I actually think Batman Begins was better than TDK. I am not saying I didn't enjoy TDK or that I think it's a bad film. I think both films are great and I'd rank them in the top best comic films. However, I like Batman Begins more because I felt they did an awesome job at portraying Batman. TDK was less about Batman and I while I think Ledger did an awesome job as Joker, the film had weird pacing. The first time I saw the film I thought it was over when the Joker gets arrested but then there is a whole hour more.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

As more time has gone by and the film has soaked into my brain more, my view hasn't changed much. Good movie. Great comic book movie. But falls short of TDK and Watchmen for me. The story/plot was quite rushed, for obvious reasons, but the actors did such a great job it didn't hurt the movie as much as it should have (not unlike TDK).

What the movie lacked, tho, was a truly great villain like The Joker or a consistent "mood" like The Watchmen. This was a total showcase of the good guys and their personalities, and it succeeded at it. But since there was so much story to tell cramming it into a 2.5 hour movie seemed to do it an injustice.

[lifetimefan]

I rarely go to the theater to see a movie (maybe once every 18-24 months) and I went to see this last night. Loved it.
It was everything a comic book movie needed to be. My only beef was that the Black Widow character had more scenes than were deserved, but I can that they wanted to showcase Johansson.

Spoiler!

I laughed the hardest in years when The Hulk sucker punched Thor. Loki getting tossed around like a rag doll was great, too.

[CaptainCrunch]

I rarely go to the theatre

But when I do, I usually have a medium popcorn with no butter and a small diet soda

I am the worlds most uninteresting man.

Sorry Bigtime, the opening of your comment just called for it.

[troutman]

Thanos? I thought it might be Kang?

Reading the internets, it sounds like Thanos is planned as a villian for a Thor move, not the next Avengers movie.

Again, why would anyone live in Manhattan in the Marvel Universe, when it gets blown up real good every week?

[LGA]

Originally Posted by troutman

Thanos? I thought it might be Kang?

Reading the internets, it sounds like Thanos is planned as a villian for a Thor move, not the next Avengers movie.

Again, why would anyone live in Manhattan in the Marvel Universe, when it gets blown up real good every week?

Constantly hoping that all that exposure to Super Heroes and Villains will eventually give you powers as well?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Finally don't forget that Marvel/Disney has committed billions to these movies, and they need to make cuts where they can. Look how much Disney lost out on John Carter; these movies are major risks. There was no guarantee Avengers was going to perform this well; Green Lantern was a failure, X-Men First Class didn't meet the expectations that the first series set, Captain America fared poorly overseas, and while Thor performed the best of them, it still did not come close to matching the usual heavyweights (Transformers, Harry Potter, Pirates, etc).

Not entirely true. Captain America grossed 191 outside of NA and 176 million within NA.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by blankall

Not entirely true. Captain America grossed 191 outside of NA and 176 million within NA.

I wonder what the screen count is for both sides of the Atlantic. Has the movie opened in Asia yet?

[troutman]

Weekend Report: 'Avengers' Smashes Records
http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3438&p=.htm

It's been clear for a while that The Avengers would be a box office success, though few people could have foreseen this opening. The superhero team-up got off to an unprecedented $200.3 million start this weekend, which obliterates the previous all-time weekend record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 last Summer ($169.2 million).

While it fell short of setting a new opening day record (that still belongs to Potter), The Avengers was responsible for new high marks in most other major categories. It was the fastest movie ever to reach $100 million, $150 million, and $200 million, and it set new records for Saturday ($69.7 million) and Sunday ($50.1 million) grosses. It also had the highest per-theater average ever for a nationwide release with $46,057.

Through its first three days, The Avengers has already grossed more than Thor ($181 million), Captain America: The First Avenger ($176.6 million) and The Incredible Hulk ($134.8 million). It's still behind Iron Man and Iron Man 2 ($318.4 million and $312.4 million, respectively), though it should pass those movies next weekend.

The big question now is how high The Avengers can go—it will obviously hit $400 million, and with exceptional word-of-mouth (rare "A+" CinemaScore) the movie could even be in line for a $500 million total.

Worldwide: $641,800,000

[StrykerSteve]

Final studio figures released today bumped the opening weekend haul of The Avengers to 207.1 million.

O.o

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by troutman

Thanos? I thought it might be Kang?

Reading the internets, it sounds like Thanos is planned as a villian for a Thor move, not the next Avengers movie.

Again, why would anyone live in Manhattan in the Marvel Universe, when it gets blown up real good every week?

People wonder why we've never heard or talked about the city of Gotham?

Joker finally got a hold of an atomic bomb.

Its funny, the same debate always happened around Castle Rock, the epicenter of evil in a lot of the Stephen King books until he finally destroyed it in Needful things.

After 7 years of being the mystical convergence of evil and the site of a hell mouth, Sunnydale was wiped off of the map in the last episode of Buffy, its only so long until Cleveland is destroyed too.

Its funny, that in these Superhero comics, that the superhero rises up, cracks a couple of common criminals heads together, everyone starts hero worshipping the superhero, then the Supervillians show up, its never the other way around.

So if a Superhero ever rises up in Calgary and stops a couple of muggings, I'm trying to kill that sucker right away before Doctor Doom shows up to challenge him.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

Who is comparing it to The Dark Knight? In my eyes TDK isn't really a comic book movie, more of a good drama action. The Avengers is not only a comic book movie, but the best one.

The last 90 minutes of this movie is better than anything that was in The Dark Knight. TDK had bigger plot holes than this movie did.

What is a comic book now? most of the great books are good drama action, like the walking dead and fables and all vertigo titles.

I"m still trying to figure out why Loki who is a god needs a god damn energon cube.... hahaha

[Ben_in_Canada]

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

I"m still trying to figure out why Loki who is a god needs a god damn energon cube.... hahaha

They make a point to punch home the fact that Loki and Thor are not gods, but are aliens with superior abilities that ancient people assumed to be "gods". Loki even directly says this in the Avengers before attempting to kill Thor.

[trackercowe]

What kind of fetishist would be in for a throwdown with The Hulk?

[lifetimefan]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Well one good thing about watching it in an imax theatre was that it was loud enough to keep me awake... hehe.

and just stop with comparing this to the Dark Knight. It's incomparable.

You must be the kind of person who goes to a Saw movie expecting Silence of the Lambs and whinging about it afterwards.

You saw the trailers, even got a free ticket. Accept and appreciate the film for its merits or go watch something more to your taste.