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Outside of an AMC movie theater on a late Friday night, cars fill its parking lot as usual. Inside, the scene is close to chaotic. A line of anticipatory fans waits, situated in front of a larger-than-life multicolored poster. The line waits for about an hour, exchanging theories and anxiously checking watches, until finally, an employee opens the cinema doors to let in the rush of people. About 150 teenagers, millennials, and adults flood into the extra-large cinema.
This is Infinity War.
As the nineteenth movie in the Marvel series in just a decade, Infinity War was advertised as one of the most ambitious crossover events in history. The all-star cast included classic characters such as Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and Black Widow, along with newer characters like Spiderman, Black Panther, and Starlord.
The film was to serve as a culmination of a decade of superhero movies with a total revenue of over 15 billion dollars. With all of the hype surrounding the movie, hundreds of theories circulated on the internet, changed forms and then circulated again. What was most surprising, though, was the complete lack of knowledge about what actually took place in the film.
It’s common for larger movies to suffer information leaks. Often before a movie is even released, details about the plot and major events can be revealed on accident by actors or crew members. For Infinity War, however, the Russo brothers (joint directors of the movie) took huge precautions to ensure that every fan had an equal opportunity to see the movie without any spoilers, even admitting to producing fake scripts for the actors so they wouldn’t know the ending. The secrecy paid off: in just its first weekend in box offices, Infinity War earned an estimated 630 million dollars, making it the highest-earning film in global history for the first weekend in theaters.
Spoilers aside, Infinity War was incredibly well produced. This comes as no shock, considering the Avengers films mark the most popular film series of all time; even so, the quality is admirable. In the first five minutes, a particular scene (again, no spoilers!) sets up Infinity War as one of the darker films in Marvel’s history. This theme is continued; if not for the constant, on-brand one liners and brief moments of comedy, the movie would be too intense for younger viewers.
Back in the theater, Infinity War reaches its dramatic conclusion. One heroic scene is met with applause, before another rips the breath away from the audience. Teenagers are sitting with their knees pulled up to their chests, adults leaning forward in rapt attention. The final scenes are shocking, heartbreaking, and stirring in equal parts: no one expected this. For a second, everyone is hopeful that another scene will wrap up the ending, but as the credits begin to roll, there are screams—literal screams—of shock and disappointment.
Marvel movies are not over by a long shot. The franchise has already announced several work that are already in various stages of production, as well as the untitled sequel to their latest release. One notable film will be Captain Marvel, slated for release in March of 2019. This movie will give some insight into a new character.
Whether the sequel to Infinity War will follow the plot-line of the comics remains to be seen. Whatever the case, it will certainly be highly anticipated.
