BOOM! And with that, Marvel’s The Avengers has finally arrived and has conquered movie theaters everywhere. Just three days after the film’s release, The Avengers surpassed the $200 million mark and in just thirteen days has surpassed $700 million internationally. To put that feat into perspective, The Avengers has already surpassed the total domestic gross of both Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. A new bar has been set for what is to be expected of a summer blockbuster and The Avengers has set that bar mighty high.
I am very curious to see what all of this means for tent pole juggernauts such as The Dark Knight Rises and The Amazing Spiderman. TDKR in particular is expected to replicate the success of its predecessor The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight debuted with the highest three day opening total ever and now sits at number three for that distinction. Rises has a lot to live up to against not only it but now what some are calling the new greatest super hero film ever, ‘The Avengers”.
July 3rd will see the release of Marc Webb’s “The Amazing Spider-Man”. Sam Raimi’s previous trilogy landed all three films in the top ten for all time gross as the franchise has made a little over $3 billion at the box office. When Raimi’s first Spider-Man film hit theaters back in 2002, it struck at just the right time. Fox’s X-men films had just been released and were both a critical and box office success. In the early 2000’s the super hero movie genre had finally found its niche and begun garnering respect from critics. Spider-Man may be the most marketable of any comic book character. From the cool bright red and blue costume to the everyman that is Peter Parker, Spidey was easy to root for. Parker was an awkward teenager who simply wanted to be noticed, who couldn’t relate to him? The Amazing Spider Man has a lot to live up to and hopefully it can wipe any memory of Spider-Man 3 and Tobey Maguire’s snap dance from all of our minds.
The Dark Knight Rises is up against it because many people view The Dark Knight as the greatest Comic Book movie ever, the only place for the franchise to go is down. TDR’s release in movie theaters was an event that not many saw coming. Heath Ledger’s death hovering over the film only added to his terrifying portrayal as the Joker that earned him a posthumous Academy Award. The return of The Joker to the big screen was something fans everywhere were exited for since the final scene of Batman Begins and it was well worth the wait as Heath Ledger’s performance has become the stuff of legend. Although “The Avengers” came and destroyed almost every box office record, “The Dark Knight Rises” may still be the most anticipated movie of the year. The recently released trailer is truly chilling as we finally get a true sense of the menace that a villain such as Bane is going to bring to Gotham City and for the first time our hero Bruce Wayne’s fate is definitely on shaky ground. For me the mystery surrounding Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character John Blake is maybe the most compelling aspect about the film. The rumors floating around the internet have fluctuated from him being a simple “beat cop” to maybe being the next person to take on the mantle of Batman should Bruce Wayne meet his demise.
The summer of 2012 started with a bang and the aftershock is going to be felt long after. With two more summer movie ten poles arriving in just a few months this stands to be the most lucrative year in box office history.
By Luther Anderson
Great article for sure. I can’t wait for TDKR