Hi John Hess from Filmmaker IQ.com - I just saw Avengers: Endgame and as the rest of the
internet and blogosphere go nuts figuring out every which way to cover and mine this
phenomenon of a movie for clicks, I wanted to toss my thoughts into the ring and provide
perhaps what might be a slightly different perspective.
Don’t worry, this video will not contain any spoilers - instead I would rather talk
about where Avengers sits in cinematic history or rather where I think it will sit.
First let me say this - the film is exceptionally satisfying for anyone that has kept up with
at least the past few movies.
I don’t particularly like to pick apart films like this because as a viewer I’m
not privy to all the decisions and debates that occurred behind the scenes.
Although there might have been some things that maybe didn’t have the intended effect
on me, overall the film worked exceptionally well.
It’s a can’t-miss and frankly essential viewing if you’ve been following these films.
Now, if you have any doubts about seeing the film, go see it.
Ah who am I kidding probably a good chunk of you have seen it already or maybe on your
3rd viewing.
What I want to talk about today is how we should look at Avengers Endgame as filmmakers
or even just film industry enthusiasts and spectators.
There’s this rather lazy trend in armchair analysis that likes to take one example like
Avengers Endgame and extrapolate far reaching conclusions about an entire industry.
I think that is first: unfair to the industry of largely independent creatives and secondly:
unfair to the monumental accomplishment that Avengers Endgame really is.
First there is this notion that comic book superhero movies are taking over popular culture
-that films are becoming more and more serialized.
While yes, it is absolutely true that the superhero genre is hitting grand slams at
the box office, let’s be truly honest about which studio is providing the majority of
those films - its Marvel.
It’s not that the industry is turning into nothing but comic book superhero movies - it's
the fact that one studio, Marvel, is simply killing it.
Batman is my favorite superhero and for a good thirty years Bats and Supes were the
reigning comic book superhero franchises.
As such, I’ve always kinda been drawn more to the DC Universe but no one who in their
right mind would argue that Warner Bros has been able to recreate the kind of success
both critically and financially that Marvel has.
I was one of those that didn’t hate the Justice League but I think even the most die
hard fan would recognize the rush to put out their own "team movie".
Justice League feels less like a crossover tying favorite heros together and more like
a step in Snyder’s Batman series where Bruce Wayne tries to make some friends.
But still there are those that claim Hollywood is awash in the pursuit of the Cinematic Universes.
That may have been true of a few studio heads eyeing the Box Office numbers of each installment
of the MCU.
But the truth is the Cinematic Universe really belongs to Marvel and to a marginally lesser
extent DC.
Take the epic failure of Dark Universe that tried to create a series by reviving Universal
monsters from the 1930s as evidence.
After the dismal bomb of The Mummy, the entire idea was scrapped.
Audiences simply aren’t interested Cinematic Universes for Cinematic Universe’s sake.
In both Warner Bros and Universal’s cases they underestimated what Marvel has been doing.
And that’s the cardinal sin.
It isn't just about costumes and superpowers and tying one movie to another.
What's happening is far more complicated.
A bit of context.
In 1998, a cash strapped Marvel Studios, a company thrown together to handle the rights
of a back catalog of comic books that only nerds were interested in, was in negotiations
with Sony Pictures for the rights to Spiderman.
Desperate for cash, one of the counter offers Marvel made would have given Sony the rights
to EVERYTHING aside from X-men and Fantastic Four - but the rest of what we now call the
Marvel Cinematic Universe could have been Sony's for just $25 million dollars.
But Sony was playing hardball and said no, they were only interested in Spiderman and
$25 million was a lot to pay just for Spidey even if you did get a bunch of other properties
that frankly no one has heard of.
Eventually reached a deal and from which we get the Sam Raimi Spiderman films which many
consider the jumpstart of the modern superhero genre.
While making only about 62 million from the first two Spiderman movies which combined
grossed about 1.6 Billion dollars, Marvel retained product rights and regained their
financial foothold as a company.
What changed movie history was a deal that Marvel struck in 2004 with Merrill Lynch.
Marvel was trying to figure out some way to make some more money on the licensing of their
own properties - well why not make the movies themselves?
Marvel would get 525 million dollars to make up to 10 films films released over 8 years
based on it’s catalog - and if the films failed, Merrill Lynch would own the rights
to the Marvel Characters.
The first film would be of course Iron Man: which drew in over 585.2 million dollars worldwide.
Not a bad start.
The follow up, The Incredible Hulk only did 285 million but the Iron Man sequel outperformed
the original with a world wide gross of 623.9 million.
Now 22 movies later, 18 billion dollars of business at the box office, here we are with
Avengers Endgame - the close of the Infinity Saga of Marvel films.
So when we discuss Endgame from a filmmaking and industry perspective we can’t see it
as just one movie but as a culmination of several movies - the bounty and end lap of
a saga over 10 years in the making.
Marvel took a bag of comic books no one in Hollywood cared about and turned them into
the biggest thing on screen.
As we all sat there watching the end credits, another habit that Marvel has tricked the
audience into doing, I was in awe of what the producers managed to pull off.
Endgame is something that everyone involved ought to be proud of, a truly remarkable but
unique accomplishment in the history of cinema - You can’t look at Endgame as a trend in
Hollywood - because it is the exception of Hollywood.
From the decades of source material created by hundreds of writers, to the production
oversight of executives that understand and care about the material - the thousands of
craftspeople on every one of those 22 films… a consistent level of quality and focus on
developing characters that audiences engage in and care about.
Even the varied messages and concepts the films themselves, that superpowers don’t
mean you can just bully everyone around, that being super means you ultimately have to reflect
the better nature of humanity from hope and altruism to courage and kindness.
All of that is a perfect storm that cannot and will not ever be repeated again.
Sure other franchises might rhyme but they will never look exactly like Marvel.
And man, I wish I was involved with something that could come close to having the impact
of those guys did.
On the other hand, for all those fearing the heavy hand of success especially in the hands
of parent company Disney - there’s an old saying that the worst day for a company is
when they become number 1.
I’m reminded of this ultimate truism from the ending of The Truman Show: Spoilers I
guess, it's been 20 years.
Truman gets his freedom and and the viewing audience goes wild.
He made it yeah!
Cease transmission.
ceasing transmission.
You want another slice?
No I'm okay.
What else is on.
Yeah let's see what else is on.
Where's the TV Guide.
The Audience cries.
The Audience cheers but ultimately The Audience moves on.
Such is the story of entertainment, one day you’re on top, the next day you’re begging
for people to hit like and subscribe and ring that bell.
How’s that for a crafty self effacing transition?
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That’s all for now folks, go out and see Avengers Endgame if you haven't already and
I’ll see you next time on Filmmaker IQ.com