"The Avengers" is easily the most-hyped movie of the 21st century, maybe even of all time. With all the talk surrounding the superhero team-up movie, there are several questions around it. Will it live up to the hype? What will the plot be? What will it rake in at the box office?
The box office is amongst the most important one of all. Granted the fans may hate the movie, as they have hated other CBM movies, yet, still flocked to the theaters to see them as they raked in the big money. "The Avengers" is more than that it seems. Marvel is making it more than a movie; they are making it THE movie event of the century. I have no clue per its budget, more than likely between $150-200 million. I believe Marvel is throwing in the kitchen sink for this movie. Let's rewind to how the hype started.
"Iron Man" opened to a big 90+ million opening weekend in 2008, surpassing all expectations and making it one of the top CBM movies of all time. But whispers were beginning to talk about "The Avengers" when Samuel L. Jackson showed after the end credits/. He introduced himself as SHIELD director Nick Fury and wanted to talk to him about "The Avenger Initiative."
One month later "The Incredible Hulk" opened to a 60 million opening weekend (not as big as Marvel would have hoped). It was better than the 2003 debacle. The scene at the end of the film when Tony Stark shows up and tells General Ross that they are forming a "team," the talk really went up a notch.
Marvel then announced later that month they they will make movies of "Thor" and "Captain America" as well as "Iron Man 2" before "The Avengers" comes out. Initially the release date was going to be July 15, 2011, but Marvel wanted to get it right. They moved Thor back one year, Captain America from May 2011 to July 2011, and then "Avengers" to open up Summer 2012. Marvel has set its game plan in place and will try for the grand slam of all superhero movies.
Movies usually get hyped up with talks and whispers when the movie is green lit. When a certain movie does, based on anything popular such as a comic, novel, cartoon, tv show or video game, fanboys and fangirls immediately begin thinking who should be cast. Think about it. We all have done it one time or another, especially with friends at the lunch table as kids? Now with the internet, news travels so fast we want everything in an instant at the touch of a button. "Avengers" has had more hype than any other movie. There is one thing that needs to be known.....What will the box office results be?
Granted we still have a way to go until May 4, 2012. As we know, Marvel has owned the first week of the summer for pretty much the past decade
(Spider Man in 2002, X-Men 2 in 2003, Spider Man 3 in 2007, Iron Man in 2008, X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009, Iron Man 2 in 2010, and will include Thor in 2011). Also, it has pretty much three weeks to ITSELF until Memorial Day weekend when "Men In Black 3D" opens. I don't think "The Avengers"' being 3D will make or break the movie. It is still going to be smash hit regardless. The big question is: will it first break "The Dark Knight"'s opening weekend record? TDK got 158.3 Million its first weekend in 2008. It came with a lot of hype as well. I can not say whether Heath Ledger's untimely death had anything to do with it. It ended up being the third highest grossing film of all time. With no competition that we know, so far, I think it has a great chance of passing TDK.
Can it pass the 750 Million that "Avatar" had this past year? Well Avatar did get a lot of its money from people seeing it in 3D and IMAX. aLthough The "Avengers" will have a 3D option and a 2D option, how much money it will get its first three weeks will determine if it is on the right path to being the highest grossing movie of all time. "Avatar" was also hyped up as being a movie that will change the way movies are made. It did by making every movie 3D now it seems.
I would love to see "The Avengers" break these records, as they say records are meant to be broken correct? No Performance enhancing drugs involved.