Honest Discussion: Is Avengers the Pinnacle of Superhero Box Office Take?

[rjrjr]

I couldn't help but notice that Captain America: Civil War (aka: Avengers 3) made less than Avengers 2 which made less than Avengers. Is Avengers the pinnacle of what a superhero movie can achieve at the box office both domestically and internationally? Was it the perfect storm, never to occur again?

 

Just curious what others think.

 

[fett]

Myself personally, the only 2 Marvel movies that had the WOW factor were the first Iron Man movie and the first Avengers. Noone expected Iron Man to be as good as it was. Avengers was the culmination of bringing the team together, and had just the right level of humor and story to bring out everyone's inner comic book nerd, especially if they grew up a Marvel Zombie. Plus the reveal of Thanos at the end really started a fire of excitement. Every movie after that, though decent and good in parts, has just been trying to measure up and does not seem new. I'm hoping Infinity War will be able to recapture some of the original excitement but don't expect it to surpass the early movies. [Cap 2 was pretty good too]

[paperheart]

yes

[Bosco685]

I couldn't help but notice that Captain America: Civil War (aka: Avengers 3) made less than Avengers 2 which made less than Avengers. Is Avengers the pinnacle of what a superhero movie can achieve at the box office both domestically and internationally? Was it the perfect storm, never to occur again?

 

Just curious what others think.

 

It will occur again. Just look at how a single character movie like Deadpool has brought in $783 MM at the box office.

 

But whichever studio targets that top prize, it will need to be huge, with a villain that really brings their A-game as well to make it that intense. And it doesn't even need to be a shocking game-changer. Just a solid story with really interesting characters people can relate to enough they want to see the movie more than once.

[drotto]

The only movie I see in the next few years that may top it is the last Avengers movie with the "original" cast. Especially if it is the last movie that will feature MDJ. Granted everything else will need to be on par over very close to the original Avengers to get that perfect storm again.

[Chip Cataldo]

I agree. I think "Infinity War 2" will have to do it. Again, it all centers on what Thanos does and how well he does it. It could have an impact. We care so much about these characters now...death will have to reign supreme.

[fastballspecial]

Id love to see Galactus in anything not some stupid cloud.

 

[NewEnglandGothic]

For right now, yes.

I just don't see interest picking up on these like before for another 25 years.

[Gatsby77]

Agreed.

 

It's a once in a generation thing.

 

But I mean that literally -- the last two generations each had superhero movies that were arguably more successful and important.

 

For instance, Batman '89 had far more impact on pop culture than The Avengers.

 

Inflation-adjusted, it made $540 million domestic to Avengers' $659 million domestic (and international isn't comparable because it was far less developed & important 25 years ago).

 

But it also played at its peak on literally 1/2 as many screens as Avengers, and without a 3D or Imax ticket bump.

 

For its time, Batman was far more talked about and game-changing than Avengers was.

 

Likewise, a generation before that, Superman _dominated_, making the equivalent of $492 million domestic today despite never playing on more than 817 theaters (to The Avengers' 4,349).

 

So it made the equivalent of 75% of The Avengers' take on literally 1/5 the number of screens.

 

That's crazy.

 

It's notable that of the top 10 superhero movies at the box office (adjusted for inflation) only two of them came out before 2001 -- and they were so good they came out _way_ before, when the entire economic structure of the box office was vastly different.

 

 

[zosocane]

For right now, yes.

I just don't see interest picking up on these like before for another 25 years.

 

I think this is right. Maybe not 25 years, but there needs to be a break from big superhero films of several years (10? 15?) in order for movie-goers to get jacked up again. Even many of us comic book geeks have gotten tired or become picky about what we will see In the box office.

 

Even the Star Wars franchise. That is being primed by Disney to squeeze every nickel out, with title franchise films and spinoff films in tandem coming out once a year. The anticipation of every three years with LucasFilm was agonizingly fun.

[Gatsby77]

Or even with Nolan's Batman trilogy.

 

I think they were very smart to space them out every four years.

 

Not to mention that pace allowed Nolan the opportunity to film classics like The Prestige and Inception in between.