Happy Avengers: Infinity War release day! Here are some news bites about that movie and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we celebrate:
Avengers: Infinity War breaks a Thursday night record
Even before the official release date had begun, Infinity War made a whopping $39 million just from Thursday night preview screenings. And that's a new record for superhero movies, defeating The Dark Knight Rises' $30.6 million in 2012. Overall, Infinity War had the third biggest preview gross of all time. Box office forecasts for the weekend are now saying it'll have the second biggest opening ever.
Meanwhile, Infinity War has already been out two days in other parts of the world and has racked up $95 million internationally.
Marvel has met with women directors for Black Widow
One of the few known future Marvel Cinematic Universe installments in development is Black Widow, the long-awaited first solo venture for Scarlett Johansson's Avenger. Not much is known about the plot yet, though rumors are circulating about it being a prequel set before her introduction in Iron Man 2 and featuring the Winter Soldier.
Also, The Hollywood Reporter has just revealed that Marvel is set on having a woman direct the movie. Three names revealed as having met about the job are: Deniz Gamze Erguven, director of the 2015 Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee Mustang; Chloe Zhao, who made the acclaimed 2017 drama The Rider; and Amma Asante, director of Belle and A United Kingdom.
Chris Pratt teases Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 story
The third Guardians of the Galaxy movie is another MCU installment officially in development, and the sequel is expected to be the kick-off for Phase 4 of the franchise. Chris Pratt, who plays Star Lord, knows what it'll be about and shared excitement and a tease of the story in an interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada. He says:
Um, I know the story. It’s going to be freaking amazing. This is, very intentionally [and] essentially, the wrap-up of a trilogy, and so the first film, the second film, and the third film each are standalone films. But there’s an arc from the first to second to third that will wrap up through the film, and it’s imaginative, it’s big — it’s bigger, better, faster, stronger, funnier… It’s gonna be great, I’m so excited.
From the sound of it, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will also deal with family, whether more parent issues or just the team's bond. Supposedly this will also be the last installment to involve the same core bunch of characters.
