JOIN USAvengers slay other films for May Day
After a decade of 21 good but not great Marvel movies, the last in the Infinity Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe hit screens on Friday.
Created by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo aka The Russo Brothers, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ smashed all records, and the frenzy gripped Bengaluru in a big way.
Endgame became the fastest film to have sold a million advance tickets on BookMyShow.
Metrolife brings you all the excitement from across Bengaluru.
First English dawn show
Endgame is the first English film with a 5 am show in the city. Much awaited Kannada and Tamil blockbusters open with dawn shows, but Hollywood films had never made the cut, perhaps because they weren’t in the same league of cult crazy. A huge crowd gathered at Urvashi cinema, near Lalbagh, in the wee hours of Friday to watch their favourite Avengers save the planet from bad guy Thanos.
Labour Day clamour
Garuda Swagath Mall in Jayanagar, Gopalan Signature Mall on Old Madras Road and Vega City Bannerghatta Road, to name a few, have multiple shows of Endgame on Wednesday, a holiday for May Day, whereas other movies like ‘Kalank’, ‘Premier Padmini’ and ‘Kavaludaari’ have only one show. Producer of critically acclaimed Kannada film Premier Padmini Shruti Naidu told Metrolife, “We weren’t aware of this. We will discuss this with our distributors.” PVR Forum is running eight shows of Endgame on May 1, with ticket prices ranging from Rs 442 to Rs 857.
Crash and fall
On Saturday, a 32-year-old woman who went to catch the 10 pm show at Cinepolis Forum Shantiniketan in Whitefield, sustained an injury while entering the movie hall. According to her friend, hall doors opened three minutes before the show. Fans were still entering the hall when the movie began, and in the excitement to catch every moment, they surged in. This caused the woman to fall, cut her lip and injure a tooth. She was taken to the hospital, where she got stitches.
All dressed up
Fans are going to the movie well prepared: they shopped well in advance to wearing T-shirts, hoodies and badges featuring their favourite superhero characters.
Bulk bookings
Some companies took their employees to watch the film on the day of its release. GrabTaxi was among those who made bulk bookings for their employees; they bought 98 tickets.
Branding and photo ops
Smartphones and apparel companies are riding the frenzy. Clothing brand Max hosted a festival for children on April 2 and 28 at Forum Shantiniketan Mall in Whitefield, and got life-size figurines of the superheroes for a special photo session. About 1,600 families were at the mall for the photo op. Chinese smartphone company Oppo announced the first online sale of F11 Pro Marvel’s Avengers limited edition from May 1. It is available for purchase for Rs 27,990; offline sales begin on May 4. The phone comes with a Captain America-themed case.
Worldwide frenzy
Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief, used Endgame as a publicity stunt by tweeting: ‘Over the last five years, the BJP has destroyed every pillar of democracy. But the #Endgame has begun. #MahaGathbandhan Sarkar. Coming Soon.’
A woman from London postponed her childbirth to watch the film. She was offered a C-section earlier in the week but because she had already booked tickets, she decided to have it later.
In Hong Kong, a man was beaten outside a theatre for sharing a spoiler.
For MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) fans, this film was particularly emotional. A woman in China cried so much she was rushed to the hospital.
A man set rules for his girlfriend before the movie. Some of his requests were: ‘You are not permitted to consume any food during the film (inc end credits), you may quietly drink water. In case of an emergency relating to our son, I will give you full authority to leave and take control I’ll join you after (inc end credit). After the film (inc end credits) we will have a 30 min debrief session to discuss the events, followed by a period of quiet personal reflection.”