[DoctorWho]

He directed a highly controlled series that would make Producers from the studio era of Hollywood feel like they had no control over their movies. For fuck sakes look at the Jon Favreau. He left because he didn't like knowing what was going to happen in these movies because the way Marvel is having everything connect and how much control they have over them. You guys are giving him too much credit.

Looking at what transpired on screen and knowing Joss Whedon's work well, I'm quite confident in saying that Whedon was responsible for what made this film work. Feige and Marvel did a brilliant job of orchestrating the Marvel Movie Universe but Whedon is a big reason this film is getting great word of mouth. He's the one who made it such a fantastic super hero flick.

But Cabin in the Woods was marketed as a Joss Whedon product. That is the key difference that many are trying to make.

It's a low-budget horror flick that was sitting on the shelf for two years. It's not a realistic comparison.

The Prestige only made $53 mil domestic and that came AFTER Begins for Nolan.

[Cipherr]

Whedon was the director for fucks sake dude!

You guys are giving him too much credit.

.

[Dany M]

OS audience loves 3D.

Its not like they are not going to see Rises because it isn't in 3D. Prices will be less per ticket, but I very honestly doubt that 2 bucks per ticket is going to amount to a big difference.

[GraveRobberX]

more likely TDKR performance will be: 35 Million Midnight, 80 Million Friday 60 Million Saturday 45 Million Sunday

Holy Fuck are you serious?

$220Million for TDKR... DA FAK?

I'll risk my avatar for 6 full months, no way in hell is it reaching it that, I would do a 6 month ban bet, but those aren't no more =/

$175-$190Million tops
Will dethrone HPDHP2 as #2 overall for Best OW

[Kud Dukan]

Avengers and TDKR are like apples and oranges, we shouldn't even have to be comparing them.

Definitely. Both films may be comic book films, but they are doing completely different things with how they handle the source material.

[Raguel]

Whedon and Feige deserve praise for pulling off this successful movie. Feige for having the balls to say "you know what? let's make individual films for each of our heroes and then lead it up to a single movie with all of them combined in a shared universe." No one has done that in the history of hollywood with that many movies. It was unprecedented even if some movies didn't work as well as others. It was also a huge financial risk. That cannot be stated enough. If the individual movies failed, the Avengers would've collapsed and Marvel Film Studios would probably disappear and be constrained to making animated features.

It was much like Lord of the Rings: a property with a huge fan base but only on the on the fringes of recognition to the average person. Both productions were risky endeavors which could've bankrupt the companies involved. But they succeeded. Marvelously.

Whedon deserve recognition for writing and directing the movie so that it won't collapsed. One of the biggest fear everyone had was the "so many heroes" problem. How would he handled so many different characters and make the movie engaging? It would've been a complete mess. But Whedon managed it deftly. He made each character shine, gave the movie moments of greatness with moments of softness. He also directed it competently, pulling the camera back when it needed to be pulled back. I mean, the whole scenes of all the heroes fighting together was just amazing and well choreographed.

They both deserve tons of credit. Feige for making initiating the whole thing. Whedon for making it wonderful

[DMczaf]

TDK BO was before the international market went crazy no?

Yup. Now we have Alice in Wonderland and Pirates 4 being $1B movies.

Thanks 3D. Thanks Depp. Thanks foreign masses!

[cutmeamango]

[TheKaeptain]

The meltdown of CaptYamato

Not really. People just need to realize this is more Kevin Feige than it will ever be Joss.

[MrPink93485]

OS audience loves 3D.

Eh, they love everything blockbuster these days. MI4 did as much as TDK overseas did under similar conditions. 600 million overseas is happening at minimum.

[Dead]

Holy shit

[3N16MA]

This battle has been going on for a long time.

[PhoncipleBone]

It's a low-budget horror flick that was sitting on the shelf for two years. It's not a realistic comparison.

The numbers are not a realistic comparison. I was meaning how Whedon's name did not really pull in people to see Cabin in the Woods, nor did it contribute much of anything to Avengers opening numbers.

Will they be plastering his name everywhere now? Oh, yes. But it was not Whedon's name that was being used to hype Avengers to the general public.

Holy Fuck are you serious? $220Million for TDKR... DA FAK? I'll risk my avatar for 6 full months, no way in hell is it reaching it that, I would do a 6 month ban bet, but those aren't no more =/ $175-$190Million tops Will dethrone HPDHP2 as #2 overall for Best OW

You are including the midnights as a separate number. I think he was including it as part of that initial Friday number. His numbers get to $185 million.

[planar1280]

Holy Fuck are you serious? $220Million for TDKR... DA FAK? I'll risk my avatar for 6 full months, no way in hell is it reaching it that, I would do a 6 month ban bet, but those aren't no more =/ $175-$190Million tops Will dethrone HPDHP2 as #2 overall for Best OW

the 80 million on friday includes midnight numbers

[DMczaf]

Not really. People just need to realize this is more Kevin Feige than it will ever be Joss.

And I agree. This opening weekend is a lot less about Joss, and much more about Feige. I do think the legs/quality of the movie will be a ton more on Joss, and less (very much less after the previous movies) Feige.

[Blader5489]

He directed a highly controlled series that would make Producers from the studio era of Hollywood feel like they had no control over their movies. For fuck sakes look at the Jon Favreau. He left because he didn't like knowing what was going to happen in these movies because the way Marvel is having everything connect and how much control they have over them. You guys are giving him too much credit.

Marvel provides the story framework for these moves, but Feige himself isn't writing the scripts or directing anything.

If Ratner had directed this movie and it was a piece of shit that bombed at the box office, would that be his fault or Feige's?

[Tobor]

cutmeamango is on fire. Lol.

Anyway here's some evidence of how little input Whedon had:

You’re known for the strong female protagonists  in your TV shows. Did you have an influence on making Black Widow a more prominent character in “The Avengers”? A. Absolutely. There was at one point a question of, should the Black Widow be an Avenger? I was like, Guys, they’re called fanboys. Yes she should. I am inevitably going to give her a decent amount of juice. Widow is really the man on the street. So you’re going to spend more time just to find that person. And you’re going to spend more time with her because she is the only female on the team and for me, one of the most interesting characters.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/20...of-his-career/

[planar1280]

Whedon has always done an Avengers kind of movie, Nolan has always done a Dark Knight kind of movie. It will be interesting to see how each of them handle a role reversal

[border]

He directed a highly controlled series that would make Producers from the studio era of Hollywood feel like they had no control over their movies. For fuck sakes look at the Jon Favreau. He left because he didn't like knowing what was going to happen in these movies because the way Marvel is having everything connect and how much control they have over them. You guys are giving him too much credit.

You are aware that Joss Whedon wrote and directed The Avengers, right? To try and give all the credit to someone else in this situation seems pretty fucking ridiculous.

[Manmademan]

But Cabin in the Woods was marketed as a Joss Whedon product. That is the key difference that many are trying to make.

Exactly.

Oh, and DC vs. Marvel will never happen, thanks to idiot marketing stunts that marvel pulled. IIRC they were offering retailers rare variant editions of certain marvel comics, as long as they tore the covers off of DC's current campaigns and sent them in (making those unsellable, basically).

DC was pretty pissed about it and said any crossovers were off the table for forseeable future.

[artist]

I'm not sure that's actually right though, because it's only dividing gross by average ticket price, which is obviously skewed by those films which release only in 2D and etc. Nonetheless, I'm guessing Avengers probably did top TDK in admissions after all.

It's the closest we got for now.

For reference, I took out the 3D boost (52% split) and took the inflation into account and got 23.62M tickets. So yes, even in terms of admissions it has topped TDK which Deathly Hallows 2 didnt.

[TDK Rises]

Holy Fuck are you serious? $220Million for TDKR... DA FAK? I'll risk my avatar for 6 full months, no way in hell is it reaching it that, I would do a 6 month ban bet, but those aren't no more =/ $175-$190Million tops Will dethrone HPDHP2 as #2 overall for Best OW

I'm taking bets on DKR doing $215-225 million weekend and $95-100 million opening day

[GraveRobberX]

the 80 million on friday includes midnight numbers

Don't try to backtrack lol

You could've done "( )" to signify 35mil 10PM Thursday/Midnight showings and + 45 Mil Friday

[soundscream]

I would switch out Jett for Good Job Bob

[jett]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/DgcLz.jpg[IMG]

:lol wtf is this? I liked the movie.

[planar1280]

Don't try to backtrack lol You could've done "( )" to signify 35mil 10PM Thursday/Midnight showings and + 45 Mil Friday

the Friday numbers always include midnights Genius. Look everywhere and don't try to troll lol

[GraveRobberX]

I'm taking bets on DKR doing $215-225 million weekend and $95-100 million opening day

6 months Avatar Bet

[3N16MA]

Someone start a "TDKR will break the OW record" thread. Compile a list of everyone who is on board.

[Tookay]

Yup. Now we have Alice in Wonderland and Pirates 4 being $1B movies. Thanks 3D. Thanks Depp. Thanks foreign masses!

Christ. Thanks for reminding me of that.

Definitely. Both films may be comic book films, but they are doing completely different things with how they handle the source material.

Yeah, like, why do we even need the comparison in the topic title? This rivalry is so forced, especially when we haven't seen what TDKR's going to do.

[TheKaeptain]

Marvel provides the story framework for these moves, but Feige himself isn't writing the scripts or directing anything. If Ratner had directed this movie and it was a piece of shit that bombed at the box office, would that be his fault or Feige's?

Yeah. But we can't really blame him for X3. Him and Avid have real no say in what Fox or Sony does with Marvel's characters.

[Subitai]

Hats of to Whedon. I'm definitely not a fan, but he was brought in to make this work, and he's easily blown away everyone's expectations and predictions. Producers and studio execs are probably kicking themselves for not staking out a holiday weekend.

[PhoncipleBone]

I'm taking bets on DKR doing $215-225 million weekend and $95-100 million opening day

Ah, moved that goal post already? Down to $95 million opening.

Still not going to happen.

[DMczaf]

:lol wtf is this? I liked the movie.

That's what Marvel fans think of you. We took care of you. Fed you, clothed you and you spit in our faces!

[Blablurn]

HOLY SHIT

[MrPink93485]

It's the closest we got for now. For reference, I took out the 3D boost (52% split) and took the inflation into account and got 23.62M tickets. So yes, even in terms of admissions it has topped TDK which Deathly Hallows 2 didnt.

Still have to take into account extra IMAX theaters and other premium screens like the RPX, but regardless that means TDKR's job is even tougher. Needs to beat Avengers admissions by some 2 million tickets to pull it off, which has been a largely stagnant number in terms of OW since 2007-2008.

[TDK Rises]

Someone start a "TDKR will break the OW record" thread. Compile a list of everyone who is on board.

Yes, please someone do it so we can put the bets in there

[apana]

I really hope this means that the next Avengers budget can be 300-350 million, the special effects was a big part of this for me. I think we had a NeoGAF member who worked on the special effects for this film.

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I love the gap between first and second.

I had zero interest in the Avengers prior to a week or so ago when it started getting great reviews. Loved Iron Man, disliked Iron Man 2 and the Edward Norton Hulk movie (Ruffalo is better anyway) and didn't see Thor or Captain America because I'm pretty tired of comic book movies and they looked like shit. Still haven't seen it yet, but maybe next weekend.

[Raguel]

Whedon actually had a surprisingly enormous amount of freedom. Read some of the interviews. And the black widow stuff. Marvel trusted him enough to actually re-write the original avengers script, and then doctor captain america and thor. Marvel just gave him a framework. The successful voice of the avengers was all Joss.

[macuser1of5]

these box office threads always deliver the lols.

[Tobor]

Someone start a "TDKR will break the OW record" thread. Compile a list of everyone who is on board.

There is already an Avengers vs. TDKR BO thread. I bet there's some crow to be eaten in there already.

[Biggest-Geek-Ever]

Batman has 2 1/2 months of prep time. As any geek knows, The Avengers don't stand a chance against that.

[Nemesis121]

the 80 million on friday includes midnight numbers

People forget it took in an extra $16mil for midnight, with out that it doesn't beat Harry Potter...

[jett]

That's what Marvel fans think of you. We took care of you. Fed you, clothed you and you spit in our faces!

Today Marvel fans have shown me their true face.

A really stupid-looking face.

[Manmademan]

I really hope this means that the next Avengers budget can be 300-350 million, the special effects was a big part of this for me. I think we had a NeoGAF member who worked on the special effects for this film.

personally I felt the effects were more than good enough. another 100 million to see Hulk's pit hairs or more scratches on the Iron man suit aren't really going to do much for me.

Now, filming it in ACTUAL 3D? or spending that money making sure the writing is up to the standard of the original? absolutely.

People forget it took it an extra $16mil for midnight, with out that it doesn't beat Harry Potter...

harry potter had midnight showings though. huge ones that made the avengers launch look like amateur hour. I went to one and remember getting custom limited edition harry potter shaped 3D glasses.

[3N16MA]

There is already an Avengers vs. TDKR BO thread. I bet there's some crow to be eaten in there already.

I missed that thread.

[Busty]

This $200m gross does lead into a more interesting question for the Avengers sequel....,

With such a stunning opening 3 day performance would Marvel's (notoriously cheap) brass be willing to give RDJ that MASSIVE payday to come back and do an Avengers sequel seeing as his multi film deal runs out after Iron Man 3?

Personally I think that RDJ will make Iron Man 3 his swansong for Marvel universe and then (just as they did time and again with HULK) Marvel will simply get a new, younger, cheaper Iron Man to replace RDJ.

What's the general school of thought on this?

...., Joss Whedon is one of the most successful writers, and directors in the world right now.

Settle down. By all accounts The Avengers is good but it's Whedon's SECOND film. Let's see how he does without a sequel (for all intents and purposes) massive IP and behind him.

Battleship made money overseas.

Battleship has done alright at the International box office but certainly not as well as it needed to do considering it's huge budget.

I think at this point Battleship will probably finish a little over $200m at the Int. box office.

Solid. Not spectacular.

[Tookay]

There is already an Avengers vs. TDKR BO thread. I bet there's some crow to be eaten in there already.

There isn't any crow to be eaten when TDKR hasn't come out yet. You guys are serving the meal a little early no?

[DoctorWho]

Is this the world record for the amount of crow that needs to be served in a single day?

There isn't any crow to be eaten when TDKR hasn't come out yet. You guys are serving the meal a little early no?

Right now we're serving crow to the people who didn't think Joss could pull this off and to those who didn't think The Avengers would be a success on this level.

[border]

Yeah. But we can't really blame him for X3. Him and Avid have real no say in what Fox or Sony does with Marvel's characters.

You skipped the question, though. If Avengers sucked and underperformed, would it be Whedon's fault or Feige's?

The crux of your argument is that it doesn't matter whether or not The Avengers was any good or who directed it.....this box office success was due to the years of setup and planning, and the actual execution was irrelevant. Can you honestly think that's true?