It is no secret that Avengers: Endgame is one of the most anticipated movies of all time, and this movie lived up to the hype. Grossing a total of $2,797,800,564 which makes this movie the highest grossing movie of all time, before inflation, passing Avatar (Lowry, CNN Entertainment). From an avid fans perspective, I was devastated that this movie had to come, because it meant the end of an era of my favorite movies. In this film, the Avengers have to undo the work of Thanos, who had wiped half of the earth population from existence in the snap of a finger. Losing family, friends, and loved ones left these characters lost and feeling like they had failed, which lead to the cinematic marvel of Avengers Endgame.
The movie leans more into the emotional aspect of things rather than action scene after action scene as the characters attempt to navigate their loss and figure out how to move forward with their lives. Or, as the case may be, they decide to move back in time in order to collect the Infinity Stones – -the focal point of nearly all the Marvel films so far – and stop Thanos from being able to enact his plans in the first place (Blanchard, West Liberty University). The film goes through the past events we have seen in the movies before, and tied them all back leading into an epic ending fight scene that leads to the population being restored, but the loss of several beloved characters, but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
The first main cinematic aspect that made this movie so special and anticipated was the use of a “cliff hanger” at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. Showing people dissolving into dust after Thanos snaps his fingers wearing the infinity gauntlet, left a sense of emptiness in the hearts of the viewers. So, when the trailer was released for this film, it was highly anticipated. The trailer did not reveal too much about the story line, but it revealed something about every character that made fans very excited for when the movie was released. Tony Stark, or Iron Man, is seen in the trailer adrift in space and looking very sickly, Captain America is shown thinking of his past and having flashbacks about his beloved Peggy Carter, Thor is shown still keeping his dominant self, Hulk is still as smart as ever, and black widow is still as determined as ever. The end of the trailer also features a new member of the team, Ant-Man who shows up unannounced to the Avengers Compound as a surprise (Cecchini, Denofgeek.com).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcMBFSGVi1c
With the movie’s plot and events aside, the movie is well known for other reasons, and that is for how it was marketed. Endgame was a movie that was very easy for Marvel to campaign and market for, because there were various movies before this one. From action figures, to comic books, to apparel, the franchise can be found all around the world. Endgame is a true culmination of the 21 films that have preceded it, the final chapter of the saga that’s set to break box office history (Taodigital.com). The movies marketing budget was $200 million which is commonly seen in block buster movies in this era. The film had a collective following on social media of over 50 million on Instagram, and also were marketed on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google. The films trailer was viewed 109 million times in April of 2019 alone, and the movie had partnered with Coca Cola, Google, and McDonalds for advertising partners. Also, the movie was able to hit on other topics in life, such as depression, the thought of time travel, and mathematics. These features can be seen throughout the movie in various situations (Crewe, Screen Education).
Social media is a major platform in the world now, which allows people to get information extremely quick and efficiently. Marvel has 32.5 million followers on Instagram, which makes it a major platform for them to publish content. They have catered their marketing materials specifically to individual channels, for example, using condensed snippets of their trailers on Instagram with a link to the full trailer on YouTube (Taodigital.com). This platform also can allow people to see hashtags, which represent a product, allow for people that do not even follow this account on Instagram to see this due to the hashtag, which is free publicity on its own.
The film was directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, was written by Christopher Markus, and a few of the stars of the movie were: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlet Johansson (Black Widow), Paul Rudd (Ant Man), and Tom Holland (Spider Man). The movie was rated PG 13 and was a total of three hours and one minute long, but every minute was worth it.
The film was watched by billons of people all around the world, and if they are like me, they loved it. Everything about this movie was perfection in my eyes, from fat Thor, to the big fight scene, to meeting Iron Mans daughter, it was amazing. Around the world there were many fans who had different views and thoughts on the film. Fandango managing editor Erik Davis tweeted that the movie is a “true culmination of 22 films that not only concludes the story, but expands upon it” (Nyren, Variety.com). Slash Film’s Peter Sciretta called the movie the “most emotional, most epic, MCU film” and “a tribute to ten years of this universe” (Nyren). Collider Video’s Dennis Tzeng called “Endgame” an “achievement in blockbuster filmmaking” and commended it for “keeping the stakes high throughout” (Nyren).
https://variety.com/2019/film/news/avengers-endgame-first-reactions-most-emotional-most-epic-mcu-film-1203195112/?jwsource=cl
In The Global Blockbuster class, we have been learning all about what a movie takes to be a blockbuster, and how this has changed over the course of time. Avengers: Endgame is a true blockbuster in every single way. The movie length is incredibly long, with three hours and one minute. The cast had several star actors, who are mainly well known for the roles they play in the Marvel movies however. The film had been marketed and advertised extremely well, which helped increase the excitement of this film. It had a plot that people would die for. Not only did we lose several beloved characters, but we fell in love with new ones too (Kizu, The Hollywood Reporter). Personally when Captain America came back as an old man, I cried my eyes out. The film was an unbelievable success and will remain at the top of the blockbuster world for quite a long time I believe.
I chose to focus on this film because it held a special place in my heart. I have watched every single Marvel movie at least twice, and some way more than others, and have grown to be a true fan of the cinematic universe that was created. So when the final version of this film would be released, it was not even in question that I had to go see it. I was in utter shock at some of the events that had happened in the film, but that is why I chose to research the film and learn more about decisions that were made. The actors felt that it was time for this to come to an end, they had nothing left for their characters to do, and so they wanted one last bang. Avengers Endgame is a movie that will now set the platform so movies to come. Such as Spider Man Homecoming, where young Peter Parker had to become the new leader of the Avengers. The film was nothing short of a success.
One of the most memorable scenes from this film is when Tony Stark is speaking to his Daughter Morgan and she tells him, “I love you 3000.” This was something that melted hearts all over the world, but it was something Robert Downey Junior wanted to personally have in the movie to pay tribute to his own children, whom he says that too in real life. He made the change of the script personally and that was his way of saying thank you to them for sticking by him through his career. According to co-writer Christopher Markus, “as much as we'd like to take credit for what is inevitably going to be one of the most memorable lines in MCU history, that is something that Robert and his children actually say to each other. He brought it from real life onto the set” (Wood, CinemaBlend). The perfect way for this cast to go out was this movie, and as much as I hate saying good bye to them, it only feels right now. Let the new era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe begin!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyQ6oKY17JQ
