Avengers: End Game has Failed in its Mission
The Avengers: Endgame re-release had only one goal, and it failed.
Most of us have come to expect a certain level of “cash-grabbiness” when it comes to modern, post 2010 Disney.
In spite of that expectation, things were ratcheted up a whole ‘nother level with the re-release of ‘Avengers: End Game’.
Disney’s adopted baby Marvel has been pumping out CGI-stuffed, ear-busting movies at an unbelievable rate since the day they released Iron Man.
That movie was released to an unexpected burst of worldwide applause – an applause that smelt deeply of the musty smell of money.
Lots and lots of money.
After that, Marvel movies started to come out more than once a year, with varying degrees of quality.
I thought ‘Iron Man 3’ was the worst film I’d seen in 10 years, whereas ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier’ was great.
While they all seem to have the smell of ‘cash-grab’; ‘End Game’ was made far worse by the studio’s ballsy move to re-release it for the sole reason of trying to de-throne Avatar as the worlds highest grossing box office film.
Remember when film was art? Neither do I.
Re-release
Marvel re-released the exact same film for a second time and promised that bonuses would be tacked onto the end.
Fans flocked to cinemas to discover what they’d added. They flocked with dreams in their hearts and fan theories that were based in fact.
Fans expected an extra scene that they knew for a fact had been shot featuring actress Katherine Langford playing older Morgan Stark. The scene had been cut from the original release for not suiting the films tone and being “confusing”, so the fans hoped it would be added among the grab-bag of other bonuses.
It wasn’t.
What fans got was -
- An introduction from the co-director
- A tribute to Stan Lee (rest in peace you incredible man)
- An unfinished and frankly horrifying deleted scene featuring a Windows 95-level rendering of the Hulk
- - A “sneak peak” ‘Spider-Man: Far from home’ movie trailer
And that’s it.
Fans took to Twitter and absolutely raged at the films directors for the shabby mess of an offering.
@filmcritickurt
“I’m so disappointed and furious with the re-release of Avengers: End Game. The new footage was terrible. PS2 level CGI with no impact on story and some fluff content. Do not spend money on this!”
The Why
So why re-release at all?
The reason was because the profits made from the box office run of Avengers: End Game came up just short of James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’.
The movie was behind Avatar by only $37 million on the original run.
So Marvel figured that re-releasing it with a few extras stuffed in would push them over the edge. It angered fans, but did it achieve its goal?
Nope.
The re-release made $5.5 million domestically.
All this fuss and for what? An amount of money that’s laughable for Marvel at this point.
The studio that was selling off properties left and right to avoid going under before Disney bought them – has become the studio that treats fans like cash-sheep to be herded into the paddocks of their vein ambition.
I think someone at Marvel needs to figure out that their pump-and-squeeze strategy has worked so far because no one else has managed to pull it off yet.
But their days are numbered, because it can’t work forever. They’ve got to change with the times or risk going down again. Going down would mean once again becoming a broke studio selling movie rights to keep the lights on.
Remember Marvel, you don’t have Robert Downey Jr anymore to trick us into thinking you’re charming and loveable. Trust me, Tom Holland certainly isn’t doing it. Goddamn.
Even Disney has tasted the cold, bitter taste of near bankruptcy during its lifetime.
Remember ya’ll, no-one is too mighty to fall.
