Avengers: Infinity War smashes global opening weekend box office record -BBC News and Comment
We will leave out the names of the comic book movie pundits. Most of you probably know who they are. They are related to the ancient Hellenic story teller pundit who told everyone "Yeah, Hercules has to go on 12 quests. 12 quests -you think people are going to sit around and listen to that? It'll be too long!" A week later people keep saying: "Wow! The 12 Labours of Hercules -did you see the crowd turned up to hear that??"
Movie pundits:
"People are fed up with super hero block-busters!"
"With Civil War Marvel saw that cramming a bunch of characters together in bright outfits did not work"
"Infinity War has too many characters, it will be an unmanageable mess and the result will make Batman V Superman look like a success!"
"Infinity War...watch Robert Downey Jnrs pay-check take a nose-dive"
Not seen the movie and there are no spoilers here (obviously). Box office record for Black Panther now for Infinity War? Marvel Studios must be crying.
But here is the thing: back in the 1970s and 1980s, at comic marts, I used to meet a lot of real (genuine) comic fans who were looking for Jungle Action of Black Panther comics. They were all 'white' fans. The Panther was always a great fan favourite and had nothing to do with 'black empowerment' -he was a great character in great stories and was gust starring in Captain Americam, Fantastic Four and the Avengers as well as other titles. That his movie got such huge audiences should not be surprising -especially after Civil War.
Why would so many people go to see an epic movie bringing together all of their favourite heroes to face what could be seen as the ultimate menace? Why was the Iliad so popular featuring all those great Hellenic (Greek) characters? Why did a film featuring Samson, Hercules and Ulysses so popular?
In fact, why are comics featuring groups of super heroes so popular?
Because you have the greatest and best heroes together fighting a major foe(s). Today we don't bother with stop-motion like in the movie Jason and the Argonauts and the famous skeleton battle -another film distinguished by featuring a group of famous heroes. When I saw the Fantastic Four movie (not the Corman one nor that last 'thing') and the truck hitting Ben Grimm it made me sit up. Now you can have New York attacked by aliens and it looks real.
People love epics even in this fast food entertainment era. Best review I've heard of the film?
"My friend watched it. He just can't explain it or talk about it. He almost cried. He went in expecting a "meh" movie but was just blown away. He cannot talk about it -but he has tickets to see it again."
So please do not loud in mockery at only $630 million being made in the first weekend. Allow Marvel and Disney to grieve.
BBC News online: Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionThe stars of the film turned up for the Los Angeles premiere
Avengers: Infinity War made history by earning an estimated $630m (£457m) worldwide on its opening weekend.
That's way ahead of the previous first weekend record of $542m set by The Fate of the Furious last year.
And the new Avengers movie, in which Marvel superheroes unite to battle Thanos, hasn't opened in China yet.
It is also likely to take the all-time North American opening weekend record after making an estimated $250m. Star Wars: The Force Awakens took $248m.
Industry tracker Exhibitor Relations made the estimates and official figures will come out later on Monday, but they rarely vary significantly from the estimates.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionScarlett Johansson stars in the film as Black Widow...Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage caption...while Robert Downey Jr stars as Iron Man
Infinity War, directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, cost between $300m and $400m to make.
Actors including Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman and Chris Pratt, star in the sequel, the first of two parts. The conclusion is set to be released in May 2019.
The films with the all-time top five opening weekends are all sequels and spin-offs.
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