One of the wonders of popcorn cinema is being able to watch wide-scale destruction without actually being affected by it. Over the years, we've seen national monuments get blown to bits, the White House explode, and just this week the world saw Manhattan get shredded by the Chitauri, those huggable aliens we all love from The Avengers.
The Hollywood Reporter enlisted Kinetic Analysis Corporation (KAC) to assess the damages caused by aliens flying through buildings, superheroes throwing aliens through buildings and the Hulk using New York as a jungle gym. The final cost is stunning: $160 billion, more than Hurricane Katrina or the Japanese Tsunami.
The numbers are huge, but to be fair they aren't up to the standards of other big budget action films that put the world in danger. Says Chuck Watson of KAC:
"Compared to the aliens in Independence Day, for example, these guys were amateurs. Of course, the Chitauri/Loki alliance were more interested in conquest and ruling whereas the ID aliens were just looking for lunch or something."
The damage might not have been as large as other movies, but other movies didn't have Thor, Cap, Hulk, Iron Man and friends to save the day. This could just be a lesson in the economics of keeping superheroes around.
Either way, it looks like it is time for me to start working on that Damage Control script I've been talking about.
Read the full story over at
The Hollywood Reporter
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