Disney re-released Avengers: Endgame this past Friday, presumably as part of a push to outperform Avatar at the global box office. In an effort to incentivize fans to revisit the film, directors Joe and Anthony Russo attached spoiler-y treats at the end of the credits. Even Captain America actor Chris Evans is urging fans to re-watch the film. But even with these boosts, the final Avengers installment may not reach the numbers it needs to in order to beat James Cameron’s box office behemoth.
Avatar pulled in $2.79 billion worldwide, earning most of its money overseas. According to Deadline, only 34% of the film’s lifetime gross came from the U.S. and China, contrasting starkly with Endgame‘s 53% U.S./China haul. Avatar‘s near-mythic number sent box office analysts, critics, and other industry experts reeling and, at the time, seemed impossible for other films to top. And it still might be.
That belief still holds. Even now, against a glut of superhero movies fighting for its coveted status, Avatar remains a formidable opponent. Only about $30 million stands between Avengers: Endgame and that close-but-not-that-close crown, but without substantial hauls overseas, its victory isn’t guaranteed. Nor is it likely. No matter how badly Robert Downey Jr. wants it to be. As charming and persuasive as he might be, he may not even be able to influence enough viewers to make a box office thrashing possible.
The Avengers: Endgame re-release is largely a domestic push, but it will also play in Mexico, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Spain, Russia, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand. Avengers: Endgame has no shot at beating Avatar‘s huge numbers in a lot of key countries, including France, Japan, Germany, Russia, and Italy. Also, it’s not re-releasing in China, so that extra potential money is off the table.
Here’s the thing: When Avatar hit theaters back in 2009, it was an absolute sensation. Screenings sold out quickly and frequently (even weeks into the film’s release), and it seemed to be all people were discussing. James Cameron’s revolutionary technology stunned, thrilled, and enthralled audiences, many of whom probably took the beauty at face value without realizing how special it was. Even knowing that everyone and their mom had seen the movie and were going back for seconds, I didn’t expect its box office numbers to climb as high as they did.
Personally, I’d watch Endgame over Avatar any day, but my opinion doesn’t mean anything when I’m staring up at the piles of cash obscuring the sun.
Whether or not you think the extra content is worth it, you could also just re-watch the movie because it’s a good movie. That seems to be what many are doing, anyway. We will see if Endgame can make enough to dethrone the unofficial Dances With Wolves remake. Who knows? It may surprise us all and completely destroy the competition. Either way, it fought the good fight.
It’s also possible Disney could decide to bring Avengers: Endgame back again for a double feature with The Lion King later this summer, or bring it back again for one last play over Labor Day weekend. There are more options.
Avengers: Endgame is back in theaters with new footage, so get your tickets now if you’re eager to see it end a 10-year reign.
Bless his heart to 3000, but Chris Evans is not the person to go to for Avengers: Endgame timeline continuity questions. And he really won’t know what to say when you ask if Steve Rogers went “Alabama” with Peggy Carter‘s niece, Sharon Carter. However, Evans did land on some nice compliments for the Marvel Cinematic Universe storytellers, and Don Cheadle jumped in with a decent enough timeline explanation. Also, the Russo Brothers provided a longer explanation on the Steve/Peggy front.
First, the Captain America star joined Don Cheadle (Rhodey/War Machine) and Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye/Ronin) at ACE Comic Con. A fan stepped up to ask Chris Evans about the Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter reunion at the end.
Steve returns the Infinity Stones to their original timelines and then chooses to stay in the past to live his life with Peggy, finally getting that dance. It was a beautiful bookend to their storyline in Captain America: The First Avenger. But it also confused some fans, like this one, who noted:
Like, was he then therefore Peggy’s husband in this universe and kinda went Alabama with her niece?
The crowd laughed. Jeremy Renner quipped, “Lotta strange things happen in ‘bama.”
The moderator said that’s a time continuity question and joked that no one up there was qualified to answer. But Chris Evans did his best to answer, with backup from Don Cheadle:
Chris Evans: You know, I’m not sure if I can give you those answers. … But you know what, look, that’s weak as shit if I’m like I don’t know… But ask the writers! [laughs]. I mean, look, I mean there’s a lot of things you can question about the time continuum. But if there’s anything I’ve learned about working with Marvel, they don’t leave stones unturned. They really don’t. I at times might share some of the questions, but anytime I’ve kind of asked the question of people, there’s always an answer. There’s always someone who kind of explains it to me.
Don Cheadle: And then you immediately forget what they said.
Chris Evans: And then I forget it. And then I come onstage, and then I say ‘Hey, ask Don Cheadle what it’s like to be Don Cheadle!’
Don Cheadle: Steve exists on multiple planes and time is not just a straight line. There’s multiple timelines.
Actually, that was a fine enough answer on its own. Thank you, Don Cheadle. I’m no expert, but isn’t the running explanation that Steve created a new timeline? Or a “branch reality,” as the Russos put it? See their full explanation below.
Watch Chris Evans attempt to answer the question around the 24:00 minute mark of this helpful fan’s ACE Comic Con video:
Avengers: Endgame writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely even said it was “always our intention” that Steve Rogers was the father of Peggy’s two children. They added “there are time travel loopholes for that.”
Directors Joe and Anthony Russo also explained what happened to Fox 5 DC:
Joe Russo: The way that it would work, right, is that when Captain America goes back, he would create a branch reality. OK? Now he would exist in that branch reality with a second Captain America who was frozen in ice.
Anthony Russo: Peggy understood that he was dead at that point in the storytelling because Cap went back to a point in time where nobody knew he still was alive, frozen in ice.
Joe Russo: Now what’s also a story for another time is, of course, if he created a branch reality, he would then have to use a Pym Particle to come back to this reality to hand that shield off.
A story for another time? When do we get to see that?
Lucifer fans, it’s time to lower the pitchforks. It wasn’t long after Netflix announced that the 10-episode Season 5 would be the series’ last that some attempted to spark up renewal efforts on social media, and now it appears that all those efforts and future efforts will be in vain.
Disappointed parties needn’t worry, though, as Lucifer‘s executive producer Ildy Modrovich assured fans that things are different this time around. In a lengthy statement via Twitter, she explained how this cancellation differs from the last, and why it’s ok (although she is torn) that the series is actually going to go away for real this time.
Straight from the horse’s mouth, it appears that there’s no use in trying to bring Lucifer back from the dead a second time. The good news is that Ildy Modrovich and others are grateful Netflix was upfront about this information, and that there’s now plenty of time to figure out the correct way to draw this series to a close over its next ten episodes.
Which, as many Lucifer fans may remember, is a luxury that wasn’t afforded to the former Fox drama the first time it was cancelled. Now an intentional series finale can be plotted out, which will at the very least be more satisfying than when it initially ended on a cliffhanger. It’s still not as satisfying as a Season 6 renewal, of course, but the best case scenario any cancelled series can hope for.
It’s also a situation that could’ve happened in this most-recent season as Season 4 delivered a pretty big cliffhanger in its season finale that would’ve left Lucifans incredibly frustrated had Season 5 never happened. It appears as though viewers did all they could to ensure that renewal happened, by the way, as a third party report said Season 4 was one of May’s most-binged shows on Netflix.
And right now, it appears that the major players in the Lucifer camp are thankful for how generous Netflix has been. Ildy Modrovich’s message was shared by series star Tom Ellis specifically, who hoped he could help clear up some of the “confusion” that has plagued the show’s loyal fanbase ever since the renewal.
Now, whether or not this means Tom Ellis isn’t as upset about Lucifer being cancelled again we can’t say. We do know that when Ellis spoke to CinemaBlend, he felt the story wasn’t done yet. Whether he was thinking one more season would do it or he was hoping for a bit more we can’t be sure of, but at least he and the crew have plenty of time to figure out this final act this time.
Details on Lucifer Season 5 are still scant at the moment, but CinemaBlend will keep an eye out for details and report on the major reveals as they come. In the meantime, be sure to stick with us for all the latest news in in television and movies.
The superhero movie landscape looks a lot different than it did at the beginning of the decade. For one thing, back then, the film rights to properties like X-Men and the Fantastic Four still belonged to 20th Century Fox, a studio a long ways away from being owned by a certain Mouse House. As such, the chances of seeing these Marvel characters share screen time with those in the Marvel Cinematic Universewasn’t possible.
However, evidently at one point Fox was considering making its own Avengers-level crossover superhero movie. During his recent appearance on Fatman Beyond, screenwriter Zack Stentz, who co-wrote both X-Men: First Class and Thor, was asked which of his movies that he’s written that will never come out is his favorite, Stentz answered:
My ex-partner and I, when we were working at Fox and working on X-Men: First Class, we did a secret movie for them that, I can’t tell you what the plot was, but I can tell you that it used all of the characters, all of the Marvel characters that Fox had at the time in 2011. It used the X-Men. It used the Fantastic Four. It used Daredevil. It used Deadpool. Daredevil was still at Fox at the time. And it was a really cool freakin’ script. We almost had Paul Greengrass directing it, which would’ve been so cool, but he had another project to do instead. It didn’t end up going, but it was a script I was really proud of and it would’ve been really good.
Man, this takes me back. While the X-Men, Fantastic Four and Deadpool were obviously Fox-only Marvel characters up until the Disney transaction went through, it’s easy to forget that Daredevil was also part of that group for a long time. The Man Without Fear only starred in one movie, and while Fox tried to get a reboot off the ground by 2012, that fell through and the rights went back to Marvel, paving the way for the Daredevil Netflix series.
Having Paul Greengrass direct this Fox crossover movie also would have been a cool choice, as the man had proved his action mettle with The Bourne Supremacyand The Bourne Ultimatum. Going off the loose time frame Zack Stentz laid out, I suspect Greengrass turned down this opportunity in favor of directing Captain Phillips, which went on to be nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, among other accolades.
Had Fox moved forward with this movie featuring the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool and X-Men, this might have placed the Fox Marvel franchise on a higher pedestal. Granted, the X-Men film series has been chugging along steadily for nearly two decades, which includes the surprise success of Deadpool, but along with Daredevil barely getting a chance to shine, the Fantastic Four movies didn’t fare particularly well, with the 2015 reboot ending up a critical and commercial bomb.CLOSE AD
Perhaps new life could have been breathed into all these characters had they been able to join forces in such an epic tale, although I worry introducing Deadpool here might have resulted in the character not being adapted as well as he was in 2016. It’s also a good bet that this movie would have taken the X-Men down a much different path than they are now.
Fast-forwarding to now, all of these properties now rest under Marvel Studios, and while the plan is to keep Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool around, it’s expected that the Fantastic Four and X-Men will are rebooted down the line. Daredevil was cancelled over a month after Season 3 premiered, and it remains to be seen if we’ll ever see Charlie Cox’s version of Matt Murdock again or if the character will be rebooted again to better fit within MCU continuity.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates concerning Marvel’s plans for any of the above characters on the big or small screens. Those of you who are curious about what the MCU has lined up next can look through our comprehensive guide.
Earth’s most lucrative heroes will reassemble in May 2020 with Marvel’s Avengers, Square Enix announced today, to kick off a story that’ll unfold over several years of updates. Unlike everything else to do with Marvel’s marvelous moneymakers, story additions with new places and characters will be free to all players. Most importantly, yes, it will let you play superheroes with your pals and duff up baddies together in co-op. Come watch the announcement trailer.
Tony Stark done goofed, apparently, causing a disaster that becomes known as “A-Day”. Probably not Arsehole Day, but you never know. So the Avengers disassemble, Cap looks like a gonner, and superheroes are banned until whoops, looks like something worse is coming so it’s time to reassemble. Square Enix say the story has both singleplayer and cooperative missions for up to four heroes. I’m game for that, as long as I get to do the smashing.
“The narrative will be delivered over multiple years, with no random loot boxes or pay-to-win scenarios,” Square Enix say. “Every new Super Hero and region will be delivered to players at no additional cost if you own the core game.”
The initial lineup looks to be Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Black Widow, then more will follow as the adventures continue. They already teased that Hank Pym might be next. One of them. Someone. A shrinkman.
Nintendo’s next console, previously code-named NX, is now titled Nintendo Switch.As Eurogamer reported back in July, Nin…
This looks to be in that confusing netherrealm between the movies and comics, wanting to appeal familiar primarily to moviegoers but also drawing from the world of paper, which I think is a situation that technically creates a hybrid alternate universe where- oh Alice no, don’t start with this nonsense, not at this time of night.
So if story chapters are free, what isn’t? No way Ian Ix is doing the ‘games as service’ dealio without some extra post-purchase cash coming in. I’d wildly guess at alternate costumes, considering even a hero of average might can amass dozens of the devils when left unsupervised for a week or two. If it’s something like that, sure, whatever.
The game’s slated to launch on May 15th, 2020. Marvel’s Avengers is being made by Crystal Dynamics with help from Eidos Montreal, Nixxes Software, and Crystal Northwest.
The past two months have been a very exciting time for Marvel fans. Avengers: Endgamehit theaters (for the first time) in April, and brought endless plot twists and satisfying conclusions to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Spider-Man: Far From Homewill wrap up Phase Three, and moviegoers are eager for any information regarding the future and the mysterious Phase Four.
One great venue for a possible announcement would be San Diego Comic-Con, which is usually a hub for exciting news, delivered directly to the fans. When speaking with Kevin Feige about Spider-Man: Far From Home, CinemaBlend’s Sean O’Connell posed this very question to the Studio Head. Feige said the following:
I don’t know that we’ve officially announced either way. We usually only go to Hall H when we have a lot of stuff to talk about and reveal. Seems like we have a lot of stuff to talk about or reveal. But we’ll see what we officially announce one way or the other. There’s also D23 later this summer, and we’ve always gone to D23.
Well, that’s delightfully cryptic. While Kevin Feige admits that it might be a good year for the MCU to have a big presentation at Comic-Con’s Hall H, he admits there aren’t any concrete plans at the moment. But with D23 and the opening of Marvel land offering another opportunity just one month later to update the fans, some big announcements feel imminent.
Hall H is the biggest venue within San Diego Comic-Con, able to hold a whopping 6500 people at full capacity. It’s historically where the biggest announcements about the MCU have come, including the lineup of the original Avengers cast. As such, all eyes are on what the studios will do this year. Marvel Studios is expect to open up regarding the shared universe’s future soon, so Hall H seems like the perfect place to break the news to the public.
But for now, Marvel Studios seems wholly focused on the impending release ofSpider-Man: Far From Home. CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell got to speak with the cast and crew about the blockbuster, including Kevin Feige himself.
The studio has been very methodical about handling each latest blockbuster. Over the past few years, focus has been on each new release, rather than teasing the overarching future too soon. Ant-Man and The Wasp and Captain Marvel were both given the attention they deserved, with fans left waiting the long year between Infinity War and Endgame for any glimpse into the MCU after Thanos’ snap.
Still, Kevin Feige did mention that there’s plenty of exciting updates to give the public, whether it was at San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H, or Disney’s annual convention D23. The MCU has typically announced full phases of movies to the public, although it’s unclear if that’s the plan this time around. While the schedule was still subject to change (shout out to Inhumans), it provided a rough outline that allowed anticipation to stew for years before each blockbuster arrived.
Whether Marvel’s future will be revealed at Comic-Con or D23 remains to be seen. But CinemaBlend will keep you updated on the latest in in the MCU.
Spider-Man: Far From Home will arrive in theaters on July 2, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
