The Avengers (2012) (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

What I didn't mention is the ginormously huge Joss Whedon fan base should not have been underestimated on this movie.
I'm not in that group only because I haven't seen much of his other then Serenity, firefly and one or two other things. I hated that tv show from last year.

I'm a little wary of that explanation, because if his fanbase was really that massive, Serenity would have made more than $38.8 million worldwide at the box office. His fanbase is diehard and extremely loyal, but I don't know that it is that large.
...Although it's probably a lot larger after this movie.

 

[TonyD]

I'm a little wary of that explanation, because if his fanbase was really that massive, Serenity would have made more than $38.8 million worldwide at the box office. His fanbase is diehard and extremely loyal, but I don't know that it is that large.
...Although it's probably a lot larger after this movie.

I'm a little bored with it too but how can it be discounted?
Btw was Serenity on over 4000 screens?

 

[Steve Tannehill]

They had a scene after the final credits? This is during the standard credit roll, not the fancy credits that came before? Once the roll began was when we began to leave.

Yes, there was a scene at the very end of the movie.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

I also think a contributing reason for the big first weekend take was the decision to release the movie overseas one week before the US opening. It allowed internet word of words to indicate the movie was in fact really good so those who were on the fence about going opening weekend and then being disappointed could go without worry. Had the movie been poor or simply a letdown compared to expectations, that decision would have really hurt opening weekend.
Now there is a whole discussion to be had about what makes this movie really good separate from the B.O. take.

 

[ScottJH]

Combination of things in decending order: build up from the other movies, being released the 1st week of May(summer movie kickoff), April releases were pretty ho-hum. Heck I think the May releases aren't much better. Avengers was my only must see movie being released this month.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by TonyD /t/278084/avengers-movie-thread/240#post_3925730
I'm a little bored with it too but how can it be discounted?
Btw was Serenity on over 4000 screens?

No - it was on about 2100 screens in the US, and it ended up with a total gross of $25 million.

The "Whedon fanbase" explanation can be discounted because the "Serenity" take shows about how much Whedon can bring in at best.

Whedon's name is good for a little money, but there's no way Whedon's credit has much to do with this movie's success. I suspect at least 95% of the viewers have no idea who Joss Whedon is or that he directed this film.

I can't explain why "Avengers" is so off the charts successful, but I'm completely sure that it has little to nothing to do with the Whedon fanboys - they might've brought in a few million and that's about it...

 

[mattCR]

Look, Whedon fans are Whedon fans. Remember, they couldn't hold Dollhouse/etc. on the air, so it's not a monumental number.. being a Joss Whedon fan is a bit like being a Kevin Smith fan.. they both have strongly devoted audiences.. but that's about it. And I say this as a HUGE Whedon fan.
I think putting that aside, his direction and script for this were both very good. And the heart of the success of this film can be summed up like this: for all the buildup, and there were years of buildup, it did something unusual: it didn't disappoint. The Avengers actually delivered in spades on the project of being a fun time at the movies, good dialog, etc.
Wheden fans only get him so far, but his script writing has always been something that helped. It helped Captain America. It was solid for Toy Story, etc. Whedon has a knack for how to write a script that works for the audience. And, while his "fans" are devotees, others who aren't Whedon fans at least appreciated a script that wasn't outright ridiculous and a lot of fun.

Those are the things that help

 

[Chuck Anstey]

From a script standpoint, I think another major contributor to The Avengers success was they left all that anti-hero or brooding angst B.S. out that has been so pervasive in "superhero" movies lately. This movie was pretty much good guys being good guys and bad guys being bad guys with some internal but reasonable team conflict for minor tension. Such a simple thing is actually a breath of fresh air and what people were looking for as something "different". It also helps to have a villain love being the villain without being a caricature. And the humor was passed around to all as wit rather than sacrificing one character to be the permanent comic relief i.e. what Peter Jackson did to Gimli.

 

[TonyD]

I think that forgotten is that this is a movie that the entire family can see. It works for kids and adults all the same so it isn't just teens, it isn't just kids and it isn't just adults going. It's everyone.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

From a script standpoint, I think another major contributor to The Avengers success was they left all that anti-hero or brooding angst B.S. out that has been so pervasive in "superhero" movies lately.

I think that forgotten is that this is a movie that the entire family can see. It works for kids and adults all the same so it isn't just teens, it isn't just kids and it isn't just adults going. It's everyone.

I think you both have got to the root of the success of "The Avengers". It succeeded by being an anti-"Dark Knight", unabashedly embracing everything the Nolan Batman trilogy ran away screaming from. I'm not denigrating that film, which I loved, but after all of the brooding darkness people were ready to have fun. One of the reasons I think "The Dark Knight Rises" won't do as well as "The Dark Knight" is the difference in where the world's at. The noughties were rife with post-9/11 gritty paranoia, and "The Dark Knight" fed into that well. But when it came out, the economy had only been in free fall for a short time. Now we're in the sixth year of economic gloom, and people have plenty of darkness in their own lives. They want vibrant, fun escapism with an unabashed happy ending. And "The Avengers" supplies that, with intelligence, excitement and humor.
The same things which make it the anti-"Dark Knight" also make it accessible to all ages. It appeals to the same qualities that brought us to watching Saturday morning cartoons as children, but it brings a lot more that speaks to older age groups, too. One thing it shares with "The Dark Knight" is the sense of being an event; they're epic entertainment that feels too big for the small screen.

 

[TonyD]

Wife and I went to a Wilmington Del. Blue Rocks game(single A Baseball) . On the way out we saw a man who must have been about 30-33 with his son who was maybe three or four. The kid had a Cap America mask n top of his head. The dad said they were going to see the movie together the next day.

 

[Paul D G]

Originally Posted by Chip_HT /t/278084/avengers-movie-thread/210#post_3924865
I always wonder why so many people are so quick to jump up as soon as the credits start rolling. Haven't people figured out by now that there is a scene buried in the credits of every Marvel movie?

I've been telling people about post scenes in movies for over 20 years and I have yet to meet anyone who knew they existed outside of Airplane and Ferris Bueller. The general rule of thumb, I tell them, is if there is any activity during the credits, stick around until the end.

Does anyone what the first movie was to include a post credits scene? The earliest I can think of is Airplane (1980).

 

[TonyD]

iPhone app called runpee comes in handy if I need to know about a scene after or during the credits.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Originally Posted by Paul D G /t/278084/avengers-movie-thread/240#post_3925894

I've been telling people about post scenes in movies for over 20 years and I have yet to meet anyone who knew they existed outside of Airplane and Ferris Bueller. The general rule of thumb, I tell them, is if there is any activity during the credits, stick around until the end.

I admit I left after the "mid-credits" scene. I stupidly thought that was it and that there'd be no further tag.

I also figured that if I missed something, I'd see it eventually on BD so it wasn't a big deal!

 

[Brian Sheffield]

I'm not a big fan of "stingers" (after Credit scenes), unless they are completely trivial. A small joke or something like that is fine.
I think the first "mid credits" scene in The Avengers was reasonable. It's separated from the main body of the film so that it serves as its own thread outside the main work, and it did not take an inordinate amount of time to wait for.
With the number of people working on a modern film, it takes way too long to watch credits all the way to the end. I don't work in the industry so I don't really care who the best boy, gaffer, assistant to "insert star here", or VFX artist number 50 was.
Besides, I'm surely not the only one that needs to use the restroom after downing a large soda and sitting through a 2.5 hour film, and in many theaters the house lights come on before they are over anyway.
However, when I get a movie on blu ray at home, I will gladly fast forward the credits and see if there is a treat at the end.

 

[Jason_V]

Besides, I'm surely not the only one that needs to use the restroom after downing a large soda and sitting through a 2.5 hour film, and in many theaters the house lights come on before they are over anyway.

We didn't drink/eat during the movie and didn't have a problem sitting still for 3 hours (we got to the theater early). Even my boyfriend, who generally has to go to the bathroom every three seconds AND can't stand movies over 2 hours.

Besides, the credits were pretty much over by the time the people waiting to get out of the theater actually got out.

 

[MattBradley]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-credits_scene
This thread got me looking. There are lots of websites that list movies that have post-credit scenes.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

...his script writing has always been something that helped.  It helped Captain America.   It was solid for Toy Story, etc.   Whedon has a knack for how to write a script that works for the audience. 

And this one worked like a finely-tuned watch. If you want to know how good a writer Whedon is, look at two of Natasha's scenes. When we're introduced to her she's funny, sexy, despite apparently being in danger. Then she totally kicks ass while rescuing herself from her predicament. At the end of the scene she turns the tables again by making it clear that she was really interrogating the bad guy and she's miffed that SHIELD is butting in to send her after Banner. It is a dazzling scene. So dazzling, so pyrotechnic that by the time we get to her emotional scene with Loki later in the film, where she seems to be bartering for Clint Barton's life, most of us have completely forgotten the technique she used in grilling the Russians at the top of the film. Poor female victim? Check. Let the guy think he's in charge? Check. Draw information out of him while he's questioning/attacking you? Check and check. Because in the first scene, Natasha reveals what she's been up to in a throw-away line in the midst of a) an argument with Fury or whoever on the phone and b) a gun-fight, it is easy to miss the import. But Whedon uses that scene to make the later scene work, makes her out-witting Loki plausible because we've already seen her do almost the same thing to somebody else. That, my friends, is writing. And that's only one of a dozen really nice pieces of writing in this film.
Regards,
Joe

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by TonyD /t/278084/avengers-movie-thread/240#post_3925821
I think that forgotten is that this is a movie that the entire family can see. It works for kids and adults all the same so it isn't just teens, it isn't just kids and it isn't just adults going. It's everyone.

Plus it was just a fun movie. We are having a minor disagreement at home if our 6yo twins will be allowed to watch it when it comes out on Blu-ray. I am firmly in the yes camp, my wife isn't so sure. I may need to send her our for a manicure when it comes out on September 25th

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

I'm with you, Adam. This is a movie six year olds NEED to see!
Not something that should keep your twins away, but I did notice a couple of slightly risque bits in the dialogue that probably went right by most of the audience. When Natasha gets called off her original assignment to go find Bruce Banner, she says something naught in French. (And mispronounces it. "Moi" shouldn't rhyme with "boy", but sound more like "mwah") The phrase roughly translates as "F*** me!" and is also the title of a film. Later Loki refers to the Black Widow as a "quim", which is a pretty crude anatomical term, at least in the States. Anyway, my ears sorta perked up at both lines, but nobody else around seemed to react. (I'll probably see the film again this weekend, so I'll see if a different audience notices. I want to see that last scene, for one thing. I was barely able to squeeze in a showing last Friday after work. I had leave half an hour early to make the 5:40 screening, and then bolt as soon as the film ended to fulfill an annoying social oblgation. )
Later,
Joe