Avengers: Endgame Sold Five Times As Many Advance Tickets As Infinity War In First Week

Avengers: Endgame Sold Five Times As Many Advance Tickets As Infinity War In First Week

Long story short, Avengers: Endgame is already breaking all kinds of records. It sold a stupid number of tickets in the first week of presales. That's not surprising -- even if it's good to hear people managed to actually buy tickets after all of the site crashes. No one should be surprised to hear Endgame is setting new ticket sale records. It already did so within 24 hours of ticket availability.

What's surprising, to me, is the sheer volume we're talking about.

For Fandango, Avengers: Endgame sold five times as many tickets in its first week as Avengers: Infinity War sold in its first seven days of presales.

For Atom Tickets, per CNBC, Avengers: Endgame sold nearly twice as many tickets in its first week as Aquaman, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Avengers: Infinity War, and Captain Marvel combined. Nearly twice as many -- combined! All of those other films made at least $1 billion at the box office, with Infinity War doubling that.

Fandango reports that thousands of showtimes are already sold out across the country. You probably knew that at some point when you tried to get tickets yourself.

What's cool is the note that theaters have been adding new showtimes -- some as early as 4:00 am and 6:30 am Friday, April 26 -- to meet the fan demand to see the three-hour movie ASAP on opening day.

As you might expect, Endgame now holds Fandango's records for both the best first day and best first week of presales, knocking out Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

In terms of what this could mean for Avengers: Endgame's opening weekend, and ultimate box office total? Well, I've already put it on the record that I think this movie could rival Avatar. I know. That might be pushing it, even if we don't adjust for inflation. But look at these pre-sales -- and fans are probably going to watch the 3-hour movie multiple times, especially if Avengers 4 does say goodbye to some or all of The Original 6 Avengers.

For comparison, since Endgame just broke Star Wars: The Force Awakens' record for Fandango, The Force Awakens made $2,068,223,624 worldwide. Avengers: Infinity War made $2,048,359,754 worldwide. And Endgame just sold five times as many presale tickets in the same period of time as Infinity War.

We're definitely look at at a film in the 2 Billion Club. But how long will the movie leg out? Opening weekend anticipation for Endgame is so high because fans don't want to be spoiled on what happens. How do the Avengers beat Thanos and reverse or at least change Infinity War's Decimation? So it's not shocking that fans are rushing to see this movie opening night, even before opening night, or at least opening weekend.

Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis even added this note about the April 26 demand:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a record amount of fans reporting sick to work or taking the day off on Friday, April 26 because they’ll be attending opening day screenings of Avengers: Endgame.

Productivity is going to take a dive that day, with the exception of movie theater employees, who should be paid extra. So, on that note, please respond in the poll below if you plan to take work or school off in order to see Endgame. Don't worry, it's an anonymous poll...

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Sylvester Stallone Explains How Rambo V: Last Blood Is Totally Different Than Other Rambo Movies

Sylvester Stallone Explains How Rambo V: Last Blood Is Totally Different Than Other Rambo Movies

The landslide winner for this year’s coolest movie title, Rambo V: Last Blood, continues the story of Sylvester Stallone’s Vietnam War vet that began in 1982’s First Blood. For a franchise that has been around as long as this one, we generally know what to expect with a Rambo film. However, Rambo V will be totally different than what came before in terms of how it picks up the story, as Sylvester Stallone explained:

In every film, Rambo never goes home, he goes out to the jungle or Afghanistan. In the new one, he does come home, but in a way he never arrives. He’s there, but he’s not. That’s what the whole story is built around. As soon as he walks outside his door, he has no more control. The world controls you.

As reported by Deadline, while speaking about the film at the Cannes Film Festival, Sylvester Stallone explained that Rambo V: Last Blood sets itself apart from the rest of the series by picking up Rambo’s story in a place we’ve never really seen him: his home. It provides a unique lens through which to view the warrior because we have never seen him in that context.

The previous Rambo movies have found the Special Forces soldier in places like Thailand or Afghanistan, and even when he was in the U.S. like in the first movie, he wasn’t home. At the end of the fourth film Rambo, the character finally returns to his father’s ranch in Arizona. But you can’t go home again, not really.

Seeing Rambo at home in Last Blood is a fascinating setup because it gives us some real insight into Rambo’s psychology and the mental cost of a lifetime of war. He may be home, but he’s not settled. He’s been in a state of perpetual war for so long that being home doesn’t feel like home. There’s no real comfort in it; his body is there, but his mind isn’t.

Rambo sadly finds that life is its own kind of fight and despite being home and not in some far off land, he is still at the mercy of events beyond his control. Those events start right away in the movie and they elucidate the toll his battles have exacted, as Sylvester Stallone continued:

We pick it up, he’s out in this storm, a horrible storm. He’s trying to rescue people. There’s a flash flood. One guy goes up by horseback, he volunteers to save people. He’s still dealing with survivor guilt, b/c he could save his friends in Vietnam. A result of PTSD. He has a hard time. He has a beautiful ranch, but he lives underground. This is how he deals with his dilemma. There’s something subterranean in Vietnam. He has an adopted family there. His father has passed on. The housekeeper who is 70 has a granddaughter. He’s her surrogate father. [The girl finds her real father in Mexico and heads there.] Bad things happen. There’s going to be some serious vengeance in this movie. A lot of people getting hurt.

We’ve seen images of Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo in cowboy attire in a storm and now we know that this is how the film starts, with him helping people as he can’t help himself but do. It’s not a savior complex, but survivor’s guilt as Sylvester Stallone explained. He feels he has to basically make up for it and save as many people as he can.

Rambo has seen so much death and dealt so much of it himself that he has PTSD and can’t live a quiet and untroubled existence on his ranch. It’s a premise that adds a great deal of complexity and realism to the John Rambo character. He isn’t John Wick, so the blood on his hands shouldn’t be easily washed off.

Sylvester Stallone also explained the premise of Last Blood, which shows that war always finds John Rambo, even if he isn’t seeking it. The vet’s family is gone, but he has something of a new family with his housekeeper and her granddaughter. But because this is a Rambo movie, something bad happens to the granddaughter in Mexico.

Rambo has to make this right, not just because of his survivor's guilt, but because it is personal. Naturally, many bad guys will feel Rambo’s wrath along the way because while he may be restless and uncomfortable at home, the battlefield is what he knows and where he operates best, even if he doesn't like it.

Rambo V: Last Blood opens in theaters on September 20. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to keep track of all of the big movies headed your way this year.

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To Celebrate Endgame, Google Introduced A Thanos Easter Egg

To Celebrate Endgame, Google Introduced A Thanos Easter Egg

Today, fans everywhere are feeling the impact of the past eleven years of the MCU with the release of Avengers: Endgame, whether it be through witnessing the movie amidst packed theaters full of fans or actively avoiding spoilers at all costs until they can score a ticket. Joining in on the fun, Google has commemorated the release of the new Marvel film with a fun feature. (Don’t worry, there aren't any spoilers!)

First, type in “Thanos” in the search engine on either your desktop or mobile device, and then look on the right side of the window for the Infinity Gauntlet. Click on it and watch what happens!

Did you try it out? The Gauntlet graphic snaps just as the villain does in 2018’s Infinity War and turns much of the search results to dust, before wiping out half the search results from 101 million to 50.5 million in under a minute. Then if you click on the Gauntlet again, the Time Stone activates and the page is restored to its original glory. It’s a clever trick Google has pulled and a fun little way to feel a bit of the satisfaction Thanos feels when he snaps half of life out of existence, and the victory we are crossing our fingers the Avengers will hopefully score by the conclusion of Endgame.

This time last year, Avengers: Infinity War shocked Marvel fans when our favorite heroes did not win the race against Thanos’ mission to collect all six Infinity Stones and bring stability to the universe by killing half of life across the board. Heroes such as Black Panther, Spider-Man, Peter Quill and Doctor Strange were among the many casualties in the snap.

Endgame follows the remainder of the Avengers, including the Original Six, Ant-Man, War Machine, Rocket Raccoon, Nebula and even Captain Marvel. The team will presumably aim to reverse the events of the tragedy by retrieving the Gauntlet and use the Infinity Stones to reverse the events of Infinity War (as the Google search shows). The movie is three hours long though, so this quick 45 second fix is by no means a play-by-play of Endgame.

The blockbuster premiered on the big screen last night and reportedly made a record-breaking $60 million opening night, which is usually a really solid opening weekend for a movie. Word on the street is the film could hit $800 million worldwide this weekend alone and break some additional box office records.

Avengers: Endgame is the 22nd MCU film and will mark the end of an era for the franchise as some of the central characters’ story arcs are wrapped up and some questions about what Marvel may have in store for Phase 4 may be answered. Endgame also marks the last Marvel outing for the Russo Brothers.

You can catch Endgame in theaters now! If you’ve seen it already and are looking for a place to geek out, check out out 10 biggest questions we have after seeing the highly-anticipated film.

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Terminator: Dark Fate Is Rated R And Continues John Connor's Story, James Cameron Confirms

Terminator: Dark Fate Is Rated R And Continues John Connor's Story, James Cameron Confirms

Wait.. there’s another Terminator movie? The franchise really does take the famous “I’ll be back” line seriously, doesn’t it! After over 15 years of missteps from the movie series, Tim Miller’s Terminator: Dark Fate is going back to what made it great. Check out what James Cameron recently said about the project:

I think the best way to think about Terminator: Dark Fate is to think about it as a direct sequel to Terminator 2, the third film in a series, if you will. We'll be continuing with Sarah's story, John's story, and the T-800 returns -- a different T-800 with a very different role to play than what we've seen before.

So if you haven’t already wiped Rise of the Machines, Salvation and Genisys from your memory, the upcoming action flick will do it for you as it will ignore them all. The film also marks the first time James Cameron will return to the franchise as a writer and producer. He also brought Linda Hamilton’s iconic Sarah Connor back to the story, though it did take some convincing.

In his interview with Flicks and the City, he said he wrote a long email expressing to Linda Hamilton how much fans love her and want to see her return to the role. He also was interested in the idea of bringing a strong woman to the big screen who is over 60 in a world where young empowering heroes such as Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman have gained traction.

Dark Fate will also bring back Arnold Schwarzenegger as T-800 but, as Cameron teases, he will have a completely different role in this film then he has before.

Another interesting tidbit is that the movie will also address John Connor’s future. John was not shown in the first trailer, and so far there has not been an actor announced to play Sarah’s son in Dark Fate. He'd presumably be in his 40s by now ... if he's still alive. Rumors, via Bloody Disgusting, suggest we may be getting a flashback to a T2-era John Connor, using a young actor as a CGI stand-in. It doesn't look like T2 actor Edward Furlong will be returning, in any case.

James Cameron continued by explaining how Dark Fate will feel more related to the series' first two entries:

I think, tonally, what makes this a direct sequel to T1 and T2 is as much about the tone as it is about the narrative: It’s R rated, it’s grim, it’s gritty, it’s fast, it’s intense, it’s very linear. The whole story takes place in 36 hours. It’s not this kind of grandiose, complex story. It’s just very focused on the characters, it’s very now, it’s very present and it’s just a fast white-knuckle ride.

Yes!! What made the first two Terminator movies great were how intense they were as Sarah Connor had to escape and fight against the lethal Terminators trying to kill her and then her son. In Dark Fate, MacKenzie Davis’ Grace and Sarah Conner will be protecting Natalia Reyes’ Dani from being hunted down by Gabriel Luna’s new Terminator.

James Cameron went more in-depth about the movie’s story with these words:

The principle of our movie is that there's an inevitable conflict between humans and the intelligent machines that they make. And all [Sarah Connor has] done is kick the can down the road from her future back in the '80s to our future now in 2019. Judgment Day is right around the corner, yet again. It's an inevitability. So she's kicked the can, she's going to have to try to kick it again and again. The war never ends. So Sarah has become a Terminator hunter. She’s not waiting to be hunted by a Terminator, she hunts them. She’s figured out a way to be there when they pop through time and she just blows their shit away.

A trailer was recently released for the film and showed MacKenzie Davis’ character Grace may be a machine who is so vastly intelligent that she could be deemed human. Sarah Connor will be teaming up with her to fight the war, but her existence could certainly become a conflict in the film.

It will be especially exciting to witness Sarah Connor’s return, now as an even more badass “Terminator hunter." James Cameron said the writers have mapped out a three-story arc that will be set in motion with this film, so if it does well, we could be in for a new trilogy. Terminator: Dark Fate hits theaters on November 1.

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Chris Hemsworth's Blunt Reason For Turning Down Star Trek 4

Chris Hemsworth's Blunt Reason For Turning Down Star Trek 4

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek came out 10 years ago this spring. It was not only a huge hit, spawning two sequels, it introduced Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk, father of Chris Pine's James T. Kirk. George was killed on his ship at the start of the movie, so that was the last we saw of him. Fast-forward to today, and Star Trek 4 was supposed to bring back both Chrises as both Kirks. That didn't happen, and the movie is now reportedly shelved.

The rumored reason for both Chrises dropping out was money, with both high profile superhero stars reportedly wanting more than what Paramount was willing to pay after the relative disappointment of Star Trek Beyond.

However, if you ask Chris Hemsworth, he turned down the next Star Trek sequel because he wasn't into the script and he's gotten more selective over time:

I didn’t feel like we landed on a reason to revisit that yet. I didn’t want to be underwhelmed by what I was going to bring to the table.

So Chris Hemsworth told Variety the fault was with the story/script/his role, not the budget. Maybe he didn't want to bring up money -- considering Forbes said he made $64.5 million last year. But he could've been honest about that and people would've understood his worth has gone way up since Star Trek. It's very possible the contract issues that made headlines weren't the full story and this note about the script is at the heart of things.

Back in 2016, Paramount officially announced Chris Hemsworth's return as George Kirk, saying the fourth movie in that franchise would be written by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. Here's what the studio said the movie would be about:

In the next installment of the epic space adventure, Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk will cross paths with a man he never had a chance to meet, but whose legacy has haunted him since the day he was born: his father. Chris Hemsworth, who appeared in 2009’s Star Trek, will return to the space saga as George Kirk to star alongside Pine.

On paper, I loved that idea. It's a way to get father and son together on screen, and also pair up two charismatic Chrises. But apparently something went wrong in the screenwriting phase, and/or Paramount wasn't willing to pay up after the under-performance of the third movie at the box office.

It's possible Chris Hemsworth was saying that if the story were stronger, he would've done Star Trek 4 for less money. Obviously he doesn't need the money. But if the script didn't impress him much and he was getting less than his usual amount? I can see him walking out. That's just speculation, but it would be a way to combine both the money reason -- which never came from either actor -- and the script reason coming from Hemsworth himself.

At least Quentin Tarantino still sounds into his mysterious Star Trek movie. And Chris Hemsworth has plenty of other projects to keep him busy, from Men in Black: International to whatever is next for Thor.

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To 3D Or Not To 3D: Buy The Right Shazam! Ticket

To 3D Or Not To 3D: Buy The Right Shazam! Ticket

This weekend, one magic word unlocked excitement, adventure, and comedy: Shazam! It certainly feels like magic, as another opportunity for the DC Comics universe to course correct seems to have paid off magnificently. And, of course, with a new chance at box office glory comes another spin of the To 3D or Not To 3D wheel that comes round with pretty much every superhero movie.

If you’re looking for our official review on Shazam!, then you can head out to see what we thought of the movie in detail. However, if you’re wondering whether you should spend the extra 3D ticket money, or save it for a bid on lunch with Superman, then you’re in the right place. Slip your glasses on, and take a trip with us into the lair of 3D movies, as we discuss whether or not this particular film is worth your hard-earned cash.

Saying Shazam! doesn’t fit 3D is like saying capes look ridiculous on superheroes. Both mediums are practically made for each other, and with all of the action and excitement that takes place in director David F. Sandberg’s hero story, it looks like a natural fit. There’s a lot of flying, a lot of lightning action, and even some evil beasties that have the potential to grab the audience’s eyes. So it feels like 3D should be a slam dunk.

Unfortunately, as exciting as Shazam’s 3D conversion should be, the reality is that the finished conversion is ok at best. With all of the potential for visual excitement in a film that occupies such a popular moviegoing genre, the extra visual flare only really shows up in particular circumstances throughout the film. Typical fields like brightness and audience health are ok, but there’s a genuine lack of blur that certainly indicates the lack of any visual assets coming out of the screen. Even the depth of picture displayed in Shazam! seems to stop short of impressive.

Other than the odd scene that includes someone pointing at the screen, or Shazam knocking over an ATM with his lightning powers, there’s a lot of missed opportunities that aren’t taken with the 3D conversion’s ability to project into the audience. Moments like Shazam and Dr. Sivana engaged in high flying combat, or even the third act closer at the Chilladelphia Holiday Festival, could have had more visual flare to their proceedings. But sadly, not even the presence of the Seven Deadly Sins could bewitch the thrills off the screen.

Thankfully, Shazam’s depth of picture isn’t as much of a disappointment, as it does a pretty fair job drawing distance in the picture. Characters are properly spaced from each other, as well as their environments, so the foundation is strong and steady beyond the window. Past that point, the results are mixed, as the depths aren’t as infinite as they can be -- and they could be really deep in certain scenes of action, as well as wider shots of the film’s visual canvas.

For a film that has as many dark places and night shots as Shazam! does, there's no real problem with the brightness factor in the film overall. The usual dimming that takes over when putting on 3D glasses is still present, but besides that, it’s pretty crisp and clear to behold. Keep in mind, your mileage may vary, as various theaters take care of their projection rigs to different degrees; particularly when switching between 2D and 3D. But in the case of Shazam!, the theater that was used for comparison had a very bright projector, as the light levels were much brighter when the glasses were slipped off.

While slipping off the 3D glasses for any film using the premium format of the third dimension, you’ll usually notice a degree of blur is employed to create and enhance the 3D picture you’re supposedly seeing on the screen. Sometimes there’s 2D anchor points that draw certain objects or persons very little/no blur, allowing the rest of the scene to draw more blur in the picture. That said, with Shazam’s 3D conversion, there are more pieces that are drawn in 2D than one would expect. Even worse, there’s a lot of front and center real estate on the screen that’s shown with very little blur, which is fine for making background shots with tons of blur stand out, but does little for the characters we’re following on screen.

Sometimes, if 3D is done wrong, it gives the audience a huge headache, a bit of a nauseous feeling in their stomach, and some eye strain to complete the hat trick of discomfort. Shazam! never falls into any of those traps, as the entire picture is smooth sailing for the moviegoer. While certain pieces of this movie’s third dimensional enhancements don’t jump into the realm of the impressive, at the very least it’s not a hard film to watch if you choose to go to town in 3D.

Shazam! is ok in 3D, but it’s a conversion that could have been much better if given the opportunity to flourish. It’s not a waste of time if you choose to go and see it with the extra visual perspective; so if you’re not a 3D addict, you shouldn’t have a problem jumping right in. However, if you’re a regular citizen of the third dimension, you’ll probably want to skip this one and save the money.

Be sure to visit our full To 3D Or Not To 3D Archive.

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Plot Twist, Detective Pikachu Could Have Starred Danny Devito

Plot Twist, Detective Pikachu Could Have Starred Danny Devito

The upcoming film Detective Pikachu is based on an unusual video game in the Pokemon franchise. When the game was first announced, a grassroots campaign sprung up around the idea of having Danny DeVito voice the little yellow fuzzball for the English language version of the game. When fans learned a movie based on the game was also being made, the demand for DeVito only increased. While the role ended up going to Ryan Reynolds, it turns out that the idea of casting DeVito was at least briefly considered by the filmmakers. According to producer Cale Boyter...

We definitely thought about it and how it might inform the spirit of it. Danny is incredible by the way. I am a huge fan of Danny DeVito.

Danny DeVito's gruff voice is probably the last one that you'd expect to come from the cute little Pokemon, but, of course, that's the joke. He has the perfect voice for a gravely noir detective character, and Detective Pikachu is certainly meant to be having fun with that concept. A Pikachu that sounded like DeVito would certainly come across as something out of a Raymond Chandler novel. Also, hearing Danny DeVito say "pika, pika" would be pure comedy.

How close Danny DeVito actually came to being cast is far from clear, but we do know that this wasn't simply a brief consideration that was discarded quickly. VFX Producer Greg Baxter told GameInformer that his team actually went as far as to add dialogue from several different potential voice actors to an early version of Pikachu in order to get an idea what it would look like. It turns out DeVito was one of the voices used. According to Baxter...

It was really very funny, so I couldn’t speak to all the reasons why it wasn’t Danny DeVito cast. I love Danny and some point maybe after the movie comes about, we can share those early tests. It’s absolutely hilarious.

It would be great to get those tests as part of the special features on a future Detective Pikachu Blu-ray. There were probably several other great actors used as tests that would sound hilarious coming from Pikachu. Until then, we can get an idea what DeVito might have sounded like thanks to fans who added the actor's voice to the character back when the Detective Pikachu video game was coming out. Check it out.

Why Danny DeVito ultimately wasn't chosen for the role we don't really know, though the producer says that the "spirit of Danny DeVito" is still part of the character, whatever that means. I suppose we'll find out when Detective Pikachu hits theaters in May.

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