SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Avengers: Infinity War Sets Box Office Debut Records
A Disney film has unseated another Disney film:
Disney and Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War kicked off the summer box office in high style over the weekend, opening to a record-setting $250 million in North America and $380 million overseas for a global total of $630 million, the top worldwide debut of all time. The superhero mashup accomplished the feat without China, where it doesn't unfurl until May 11.
Fellow Disney title Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($248 million) was the previous record holder for biggest domestic bow, while Universal's The Fate of the Furious had held the record for biggest global start ($541.9 million).
Infinity War's box-office victory was aided by the biggest Saturday of all time in North America ($83 million), as well as the biggest Sunday (an estimated $61 million), reflecting powerful word of mouth. The tentpole cost close to $300 million to produce before a major marketing spend.
$250 million is a studio estimate, which may change. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is said to have earned $256,008,273 in the U.S. and Canada after being adjusted for inflation.
Could AI Predict the Next Avengers: Infinity War?
Meanwhile, an Anonymous Coward asks:
Some movies are obvious hits. Like, for example, Avengers: Infinity War, which made a record-breaking $258 million at the domestic box office last weekend, filling seats and the pockets of Marvel Studios parent company Disney. But not every summer—or spring, or fall—blockbuster has the benefit of 10 years and 18 movies of built-up audience goodwill. So while the Mouse House knew they had a potentially earth-shattering hit on their hands well before opening night, other studios trying to catch up have no way of predicting whether their latest attempts to hit big will do so.
Actually, they might. Machine learning is everywhere, and artificial intelligence is no longer just a Spielberg-Kubrick collaboration. These days, Amazon can practically anticipate when you might need toilet paper and Netflix can predict your next binge, so it only seems natural that Hollywood will start using AI to predict the next big blockbuster, or at least improve its chances of becoming one. In fact, several companies are already working on algorithmic ways to predict box office results. Whether or not algorithms are better at picking winners than studio execs, however, is another matter—one that's still far from resolved.
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-intelligence-box-office-predictions/
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 03 2018, @02:24AM (4 children)
The story arc they're covering is straight out of the comics, albeit with some (though not as much as usual) standard Hollywood molestation of the story thrown in.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday May 03 2018, @02:47AM (3 children)
I think I must be too old....I have no interest in seeing it.
Ever since the new star wars movie (the Han Solo dies and I didn't give s feck one) I've lost interest in the latest whiz bang gotta see movies.
And since the Blair witch movie, and that Matthew Broderick Godzilla movie, i've been wary of any movie they hype the hell out of.
Maybe I'll go watch the good, the bad and the ugly...a movie starring Clint Eastwood, Justin Bieber and ...I can't even care enough to finish the joke.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Thursday May 03 2018, @03:02AM
It was actually a good movie with a decent, if dark story line. I just got back from seeing it and while I am glad I didn't go on opening weekend, I am glad I did go and see it on the big screen. The effects all supported they story rather than the other way around.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:24AM (1 child)
From 1979(?) or so. There was a followup Lando Calrissian series from the early 80s that is prequels to the Han Solo ones.
Why is this interesting? Because the new Han Solo standalone prequel movie is basically a ripoff of various plot elements from these two trilogies.
The sad part about this all is: If you only use Star Wars content from 1998 back (minus half or more of the Dark Horse comics) the Star Wars canon as laid out by third parties makes for a rich and diverse universe with lots of great storylines, not much stepping on feet, etc. As soon as Lucas set his feet back into the pond in 1999 he shit all over everything, from his OWN MEDIA COMPANY'S works, right up to the 2 decades of stories people had painstakingly crafted, many of which while not perhaps as spectacular as original fiction, were considered competitive with the contemporaries of their time, and certainly would have made better movie plots than the 7 or so pieces of bantha poodoo released over Lucas' return and Disney's reign.
Mostly though, I feel the need to point at the above trilogy because it shows the sickness of this 'originating IP' mentality, where the IP can be tossed around and destroy the collective lore that gets layed together over decades because IP can be transferred for over 100 years now.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday May 03 2018, @06:42AM
Just say "Parallel universe!" and all your canon troubles fade away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiverse_(Marvel_Comics) [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_expanded_universe [wikipedia.org]
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series) CONFIRMED CANON.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]