Captain Marvel (2019) (1 Viewer)

[Jake Lipson]

It also just ticked over Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to become the #7 MCU film of all time domestically (for now) in unadjusted grosses. Although Endgame will certainly pass it in short order, that's still really impressive to make it into the upper third of such a long-running franchise.

Since we know that it will pass $400 million, the next logical question is whether it can pass the gross of Civil War ($408 million) which is currently the first thing above it. And if it can jump over Civil War, can it also jump over Iron Man 3 ($409 million)? It always seemed odd to me that Civil War stopped just short of being able to do that.

Captain Marvel's ability to hit those marks will depend on how much Endgame recharges interest in it. If people do decide they want to see it again, or for the first time, after Endgame, it could potentially get there. If people essentially abandon it because Endgame is the one they care about going forward, then it won't.

 

[Carlo_M]

A friend of mine (who has not yet seen it) and I (who watched it once) will likely add to this weekend's box office totals.

 

[JimmyO]

Just as long as it doesn't top WW domestically, I will be happy.

 

[Tino]

For some reason, it hasn't been getting as good a review as I'd have hoped.

Huh?

 

[TonyD]

That guy has 4 or 5 comments and they are all the same thing.

 

[Joe Wong]

Friday's estimate is $3.15m.

 

[Edwin-S]

It certainly has done well for itself considering the early negativity toward it, including my own. Have to admit that it was quite entertaining; although, it still falls below GoTG 1 and 2 and Thor:Ragnarok in my book.

 

[Joe Wong]

I had pretty high hopes for it initially, and while it didn't land in the top 3rd of MCU films for me (more of a mid-tier entry), I think, whatever one thinks of its merits purely as a film, from reading tweets and comments, there was a very strong, positive message that resonated with more people than not. The message that one should not be constrained by what others tell you, and that you don't have anything to prove.

 

[Edwin-S]

I would have to watch if again to really rank it but based on my first viewing I would put it above Captain America: The First Avenger and below Captain America: Winter Soldier on my list of MCU films.

 

[Chip_HT]

If I were a large multiplex, I'd probably keep Captain Marvel on a screen or two. People who show up for Endgame and discover it's sold out might buy Captain Marvel tickets as a hold-me-over.

In that case, why not just put Endgame on those screens?

 

[David Norman]

3.5M Friday +42%. The Easter Break bump is in full force this week. Maybe a little Endgame pull, but I suspect it's just vacations kicking in. 394M through Friday so 402-403 by the end of Easter Monday isn't out of reach

400 by the end of Sunday should be a slamdunk at this point (outside chance by the end of Saturday) then a big drop off over the next 2=3 weeks with double dropoffs/theater drops/and Endgame tradeoffs, but I'm actually hopeful it ends up close to WW at 412 domestic by Memorial Day.

I don't know how many pre college are out this next week, but some college semesters will be ending in a few weeks and increasing through May so 410+ seems realistic now

 

[Carabimero]

We watched this last night, our finally review before we screen INFINITY WAR sometime before Thursday.

It's a perfectly fun movie, but it's in the bottom tier for me, along with Dark World and Wasp.

 

[Malcolm R]

In that case, why not just put Endgame on those screens?

From the theater's perspective, they can keep a larger percentage of the box office take for the eighth week of Captain Marvel than for the opening week of Endgame (where Disney is likely taking back around 90% of the opening weekend ticket sales). By week eight of the film's run, the split is more equitable for the theater.

So if they can sell out Endgame and convince some of the overflow to see Captain Marvel instead, they'd probably make a few more bucks.

 

[Hanson]

https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/19/man-broke-record-going-cinema-watch-captain-marvel-116-times-9275138/

 

[JimmyO]

https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/19/man-broke-record-going-cinema-watch-captain-marvel-116-times-9275138/

Good lord!

 

[Joe Wong]

Weekend estimate is $9.1m... just getting it over $400m total. Actual numbers tomorrow.

The impressive stat is that it rose 5.7% over last weekend.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Weekend estimate is $9.1m... just getting it over $400m total. Actual numbers tomorrow.

I just contributed to that. The family Easter festivities wrapped up at a reasonable hour, so I caught the 6:40 showing at one of the local multiplexes. I wanted to finish off my revisits of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, and the mid-credits scene rolls right into Avengers: Endgame.

Road to Endgame Revisit #21:
Captain Marvel is an interesting addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's our introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Superman: Super strong, super fast, can fly, glowing eyes and focused energy discharges, combination of Americana upbringing and alien physiology. This would seem to be a very big deal, one of the MCU's main headlining acts.

And yet, it's a movie that's slipped into the crevices of the MCU, fitting into the gaps between the previous MCU entries, fleshing out areas that had been only lightly explored previously, and unveiling arguably the most powerful Avenger -- certainly right up there with Thor and Scarlet Witch -- in a way that doesn't upset the apple cart. She can't have too major of impact, because there are over a dozen films set later in the timeline that were released before this one had even been conceived of. She is Earth's mightiest hero, but she abandons it almost immediately to be a hero for strangers on distant stars.

Captain Marvel is a woman defined by contradictions, and Captain Marvel is a movie defined by contradictions.

The movie is very much rooted in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies: the visual language established by the films, including the three layer location captions with interstellar coordinates; the technology, particularly the use of fixed jump points to travel vast distances using vessels that travel slower than the speed of light; and even a few of the supporting players, with Djimon Hounsou reprising his role as Korath the Pursuer and Lee Pace reprising his role as Ronan the Accuser.

Even the cinematographer is the same as the first Guardians of the Galaxy: Ben Davis. This is his fourth Marvel movie, and it's actually my favorite work by him in this franchise to date, with a look that fits in well with the blockbusters of the period like Independence Day, Armageddon, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, True Lies, Con Air, and Broken Arrow. But particularly watching it right after Avengers: Infinity War, which was beautifully shot by Trent Opaloch using Ultra Panavision 70 lenses, it all feels so generic and pedestrian. Davis's work on this film never gets in the way, but it never really stands out, either.

Once the movie gets to Earth, it leans heavily on the mid-nineties nostalgia. I think this might be the first period piece where I was alive and remember the period being portrayed. The soundtrack is chock full of some of the most overplayed radio hits of the time period. Some of the details, like the very early days AltaVista and the unreliable dial-up connection, felt achingly accurate. Others, like them having to wait for an audio CD to load in the Windows 95 CD Player application, felt severely exaggerated. Mostly, they did a good job of staying true to the period without being overbearingly dated.

As I watched the movie this time around, with the other movies fresh in my mind, the comparison I kept coming back to for Carol was Bucky Barnes: Both were separated from the time period and the people they knew, both were enhanced beyond normal human limits, both were stripped of their memories, and both were conscripted into a cause against their will, and tricked into supporting unjust causes. Much like the Winter Soldier in Civil War, a lot of the dramatic tension comes from how much Carol remembers at any given point in the movie. She starts the film as the unquestioning footsoldier, an enthusiastic adherent to the ideology that had been hammered into her, with only recurring bad dreams to give her pause. The Skrulls' memory technology throws that constructed identity into turmoil.

Once she crash lands on Earth, there is a bidirectional process of discovery going on: Nick Fury is learning about the Kree-Skrull War and Earth's place in the galaxy, and Carol Danvers is learning about herself and where she came from. Even though they're discovering different things, they find themselves on a shared journey, and that really bonds the two of them together. Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson have a wonderful platonic chemistry together; Fury shows Carol a softer side of himself that he doesn't let anybody see in the later movies, and Carol finds validation for the parts of herself that were discouraged by both the United States Air Force and the Kree Empire.

One of the most interesting and revealing things is the way Carol interacts with people when she doesn't have all of the information necessary to form an opinion. She takes some major leaps of faith in this movie, and they're mostly good ones. One gets the sense that pre-Kree Carol Danvers was a pretty good judge of character, and that that was one of the many things that was stolen from her when the Kree stripped away her identity. Carol has a dry wit, which at times seems at odds with the devil-may-care thrill seeker. But she's also capable of enormous empathy and kindness. One of my favorite beats in the movie is when Carol has just saved the planet, and her and Fury are chatting while washing and drying the dishes at the kitchen sink after dinner. Lots of other people with her abilities would see that kind of thing as beneath them.

I was looking closely this time, and the de-aging effect on Samuel L. Jackson still seemed flawless to me. The Coulson deaging, while still wonky, played better for me than it did the first time around.

The Kree aren't especially interesting villains, because they're basically a virus on the galaxy; the Supreme Intelligence presumably created to organize and administer the Kree Empire. Having accomplished that task, the only things left for it to do are replicate and propagate. Fanatics like Ronan the Accuser think they're expanding the glory of the Kree civilization, but really they're just vectors for the spread of a computer virus. Yon-Rogg is a bit more interesting, because of his personal connection to Carol: he is fond of her, he has mentored her, and yet he is the one who has done all of these horrible things to her. The other members of the Starforce team don't do a lot to distinguish themselves.

One thing that is interesting: The Kree are governed by the Supreme Intelligence in 1995, but Ronan the Accuser has disobeyed the Kree Emperor in 2014. This suggests that perhaps Carol made good on her promise to stop the Supreme Intelligence during those intervening years.

The Skrulls are a bit more interesting, as our understanding of them changes throughout the movie. But I think as an audience member I needed more to understand why the Skrulls, out of all the species that have resisted Kree rule, were the particular target of such extreme genocidal tactics.

Because of the unconventional structure of the movie, we didn't get to know nearly as much as I would have liked about Carol's childhood, nor her time in the Air Force. The friendship between Carol and Maria Rambeau doesn't play as well as it could, because we only get flashes of their shared history before they're reunited. On the other hand, Carol is wonderful with Maria's daughter Monica, who clearly idolizes "auntie" Carol -- perhaps all the more so because of her six years absence.

The fight scene aboard Mar-Vell's laboratory vessel, set to "Just a Girl" by No Doubt, is a lot of fun. But where the movie really soars is when Captain Marvel is unleashed and she singlehandedly repels Ronan's fleet. Those scenes inspire awe, in a way that the more grounded approach to Superman in the recent DC movies has not. These characters are absolute wonders, and they should feel like it.

I've now seen the movie twice, and the stuff with Goose absolutely killed both times. The reveal of how Fury lost his eye was absolutely hilarious.

Overall, a pretty standard issue Marvel movie. But it accomplished its most important task, which was to make me want to see more of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. She was great in this movie, and I'm excited to see what she brings to the table in Avengers: Endgame, which offers a particular challenge in that it was filmed first, but features a version of the character who is (at least) 23 years older and wiser.

Connections to other parts of the MCU: The Kree empire and the jump technology they use come from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. As has been mentioned, Ronan and Korath are both carryovers from the first Guardians of the Galaxy. SHIELD was introduced in the first Iron Man, and exists here as a sort of post-Cold War international espionage agency. It is only the events of this movie that refocus its mission on extraterrestrial threats. SHIELD by this point already has fairly significant experience with enhanced technology and individuals, though Fury and Coulson are not aware of it. Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., the codename for Mar-Vell's experiments with the Tesseract, was later revived in the first Avengers for Dr. Selvig's experiments with the Tesseract. The prototype aircraft Carol and Fury steal from the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. facility, which is later significantly modified for space travel by the Skrulls' "science guy", will evolve into the Quinjet used by SHIELD and the Avengers in the later movies. The final scene of this movie reveals that Danvers's call sign in the Air Force was "Avenger", which in turn inspires the name for Fury's proposed Avenger Initiative. The pager that Captain Marvel took away from Fury and later returned in a vastly upgraded fashion was first seen in the post-credits scene of Infinity War. The mid-credits scene of this movie leaps ahead into the events of Endgame, capturing the moment when Captain Marvel answers the pager's call. Based on the context, the pager has been transmitting for quite a while by that point. In the foreground, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff are tracking confirmed deaths on both a planetary level and a nation-by-nation count using Stark's holographic technology.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Oh man, this is pure gold. I think this may be the best HISHE video I have seen.

 

[Jake Lipson]

That's great. All joking aside, Endgame is going to have to provide an explanation as to why Fury didn't page her during the Battle of New York for exactly the reason depicted in that video. (Yeah, yeah, they hadn't decided that he had the pager yet, but in-universe that doesn't work.)

 

[KeithAP]

So I finally saw Captain Marvel yesterday. Reasonably entertaining, if I ranked the MCU movies I am guessing it would fall mid pack, or just below.

The biggest issue I had with it was that Brie Larson does a really bad Tony Stark imitation. She just seemed awkward when trying to deliver the humorous lines. I really hope she gets better at that or maybe they will write the character a little differently in the future.

-kap