The Marvel blockbuster raked in $2.743 billion in its initial release, which is a lot of money but still fell short of the box office record held by “Avatar” ($2.788 billion).
But now, “Endgame” is getting re-released on June 28 with new footage. That could be enough to push the superhero team-up to No. 1.
Marvel boss Kevin Feige confirmed the news to several media outlets during interviews for “Spider-Man: Far From Home.”
He told Screenrant the re-release is “not an extended cut, but there will be a version going into theaters with a bit of a marketing push with a few new things at the end of the movie.
“If you stay and watch the movie, after the credits, there’ll be a deleted scene, a little tribute, and a few surprises.”
The timing of the re-release makes sense. It’s just a week before the “Spider-Man” sequel opens, giving moviegoers the opportunity to watch (or re-watch) “Endgame” beforehand. “Far From Home” picks up right where “Endgame” left off.
As for what the “new things” might be, the tribute is likely to be for the late Stan Lee, the OG mastermind of many of the Marvel characters.
The deleted scene could be additional battle footage that was shot (but cut from the final theatrical version). Or there is an extended version of the farewell between Thor and Valkyrie that turns awkward. Perhaps we’ll get to see the scene “13 Reasons Why” star Katherine Langford play an older Morgan Stark in a cut scene.
As for the surprises, since Feige mentions that this is a marketing push, a “Spider-Man: Far From Home” clip is probable. But could there be a teaser for an upcoming Marvel movie or series? The studio is returning to Comic-Con’s Hall H this summer, but questions remain about what Marvel is bringing to their panel. Perhaps one of the surprises will be a teaser for a Comic-Con teaser. We’re getting trailers for trailers these days, so that is the world we live in now.
Looks like James Cameron might not have to take out another ad congratulating “Avengers: Endgame” for surpassing one of his films on the all-time box-office chart.
While “Endgame” smashed all kinds of opening records (including taking down “Titanic,”) it hasn’t yet passed “Avatar“s all-time haul of $2.78 billion. (After four weeks, it stands at $2.62 billion in worldwide ticket sales.)
“It’s slowed down more than we all expected,” Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice Media told THR of the hit Marvel movie.
Robbins first expected “Endgame” to eclipse “Avatar”’s record in mid-June. Now he thinks it may not happen until Labor Day, if at all.
“Avatar” spent 7 weeks as the number one film, compared to “Endgame’s 3-week reign. It was also a steady earner, spending over 60 weeks in theaters and receiving a late summer re-release more than half-of-a-year after its December debut.
“Endgame” doesn’t appear to have that kind of staying power so far.
“If it performs like it has been up to this point, there is about a $10 million to $20 million margin that falls half north and half south of ‘Avatar,’ said Robbins, adding, “But it would be surprising if Disney didn’t get it there somehow.”
Hmm, perhaps a rerelease with extra scenes would put it over the top?
Something that wasn’t true when “Avatar” was just up against “Iron Man:” With Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox’s assets, both franchises are now Disney properties. Per CNET, one of the reasons the long-awaited “Avatar” sequels are taking so long is they’re now being spaced out between Marvel and “Star Wars” movies.
Whichever film ends up on top, Zoe Saldana, who mo-capped Neytiri in “Avatar” and played Gamora in “Endgame,” remains a box office queen.
Clement, co-creator of “Flight of the Conchords” and FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows,” is joining the “Avatar” sequels as the marine biologist Dr. Ian Garvin.
Director James Cameron said, “I’ve loved Jemaine’s work for years and I’m really pumped that he’s joining our cast as Ian Garvin, one of my favorite characters.”
Clement joins franchise newcomers Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh, and Edie Falco, as well as returning stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver.
Disney recently pushed back the “Avatar” sequels. “Avatar 2” is slated for release December 17, 2021. The third, fourth, and fifth installments hit theaters every other December after that.
Writer-director James Cameron announced Yeoh’s addition on Monday, revealing that the actress will be playing a scientist character named Dr. Karina Mogue. It’s unclear how big the role is, or how many of the four follow-up films she will appear in, though Cameron’s statement seemed to suggest that Yeoh will star in all of them.
“Throughout her career, Michelle has always created unique and memorable characters,” Cameron’s statement said. “I look forward to working with Michelle to do the same thing on the ‘Avatar’ sequels.”
Yeoh has been busy recently, coming off last year’s hit rom-com “Crazy Rich Asians,” and next set to star in her own “Star Trek” spinoff series. The actress will reprise her “Star Trek Discovery” character, Capt. Philippa Georgiou, for the show.
In addition to Yeoh, Edie Falco has also joined the “Avatar” sequels, playing a general. Vin Diesel is rumored to have a role as well.
If all goes according to plan, the first “Avatar” follow-up will hit theaters on December 18, 2020. The next three films are then scheduled for release in 2021, 2024, and 2025.
“[I’m] with my ol’ buddy, Vin and we’re actually gonna give him the flashy thing from Men in Black when he leaves here, so he has no memory whatsoever of what he’s seen because he cannot carry the tale.”
Diesel responds by gushing about Cameron as a director he has long wanted to work with.
“It’s long overdue. There is one person in Hollywood I’ve always wanted to work with, and learn from,” he says. “All things come, I guess, to those who wait.
If Diesel is joining the cast, he’ll work opposite returning “Avatar” stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver, as well as newcomers Kate Winslet and Edie Falco.
Then again, it’s possible that Diesel and Cameron are just buddies and Diesel really is just there to observe the director at work. With so little known about the “Avatar” movies, it’s anybody’s guess.
Right now there’s a movie in theaters that features a strong female character, some absolutely killer soundtrack cuts, is set in 1995 and will blow your mind. No, I’m not talking about “Captain Marvel.” I’m talking about “Climax.”
From our friends at A24, “Climax” made a splash at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where the heightened tale of a troupe of dancers (led by the mesmerizing Sofia Boutella) is preparing for a tour of the United States. At a party they dance the night away … until the effects from a batch of sangria dosed with LSD takes hold. From there, it’s absolute mayhem, and honestly, the less you know about the actual storyline, the better. It unfolds in beautiful and terrifying ways and you will be riveted.
We were lucky enough to talk to the film’s brilliant writer-director, Gaspar Noé, the provocateur behind similarly mind-shattering epics as “Enter the Void,” “Love” and “Irreversible,” about when the movie was going to be a documentary, how the dancers came up with their own dialogue, and what his relationship with Thomas Bangalter aka the silver robot from Daft Punk, is all about. Oh, and we break the news to him that there will be several more “Avatar” sequels on the way. (He’s a big fan of the first film.)
Moviefone: So I had read that that this project was initially going to be at a documentary. I was wondering if you could talk about how you decided to make it a narrative.
Noé: Well, I sort of make an excuse. I love the country and if you tell the producers that you want to shoot a narrative movie, they would ask for a script that I didn’t have. So I said, “Well I want to do a documentary.” And one of the main reasons I wanted to do the film was I was hypnotized by these dancers. I said, “Yeah I would love to film them, with their body language and kinetic skills.”
So at a point I had to make a decision either to make a documentary about this type of dancing or should I mix this kind of dancing with this idea for a movie that I had before. So I went to see my producers with my idea. They said, “If you make it very cheap in 15 days and we can pay for it.” And one month later we had all the dancers and crew on location and were finding additional financing. I would say this kind of production couldn’t happen anywhere else but France.
So all of the dialogue between the dancers — did they improvise all of that?
No. When I was putting two characters together, the boy and the girl who play brother and sister are not brother and sister in real life, so I said, “Can you pretend to be jealous?” And they were improvising around the characters I was presenting. When the guy says, “I want to f*ck them all,” I was telling to them the situation and the characters and they would use their own words. I would film them for 20 minutes and in the editing process I would just keep one minute. For example you have the two guys talking in a very dirty way and I knew they were very funny when they were talking about sex. So I said, “Can you talk very sleazy?” Again, I filmed them for 20 minutes and they were just having fun pretending to be drunk. And I could have never invented that dialogue. They’re not themselves, they’re pretending to be someone else but using their own language.
Well I wanted to ask about the beginning of the movie and the videotapes on either side of the frame.
Actually, when we were almost finishing shooting the movie, my line producer was driving me home in his car and he said, “What a pity we don’t see more of the dancers talking.” We were three days away from the end of the shoot and I said, “What do you mean?” And he said, “I love how they talk, they’re so funny and so charismatic.” So the next day I decided I would set up the camera in one of the rooms at the location and the actors, one after the other, when they were free, I would bring them into the room and interview them with my assistant director. So I was playing the voice of the DJ and she was playing the part of Sofia Boutella, the choreographer looking for dancers for her show in the movie. They were improvising their answers, remembering that they were playing a character from the 90s. And I kept the best answers of all of them.
And because the video we used had the aspect ratio of the 90s, 1:33, I had to put that inside of the CinemaScope frame, I had a black bands on either side. I thought, Oh I should put the tape in the middle of the frame and have my favorite books from the 80s and 90s, my collection of VHS around it. And you see some of the movies that inspired me. There are some VHS that I have put in there but I didn’t have them — “Shivers” by David Cronenberg, his first feature film, I could have also put “The Towering Inferno,” a movie I watched 30 times in a row as a kid.
I wanted to ask about your relationship with Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk.
In the case of “Climax,” I asked him if he had some tracks from the 90s he didn’t use. Because initially I only wanted to use tracks from before 1995 because the movie takes place in 1995, and he gave me a track that we called “Sangria” but he never used. I think he created it in 1994. And, yeah, he helps me out in editing and thanks to him we got “Rollin’ and Scratchin’” by Daft Punk from the record label. Basically he’s a genius. He’s a musician but he’s also a filmmaker, he’s directed movies too. And he’s a friend. It’s personal.
Lightstorm/Fox
Before “Love” came out you talked about “Avatar” and your love of that 3D experience. Are you still in love with 3D? And are you excited about the new “Avatar” movies?
There’s going to be a new “Avatar” now?
Yeah, there’s going to be four of them!
Huh. I like the movie but what I meant about “Avatar” was I was just discovering how good the 3D could be nowadays. And when “Gravity” came out, it was like, Wow. 3Ds movies from the 50s, 60s, 70s would give you a headache. I remember watching VR movies with the helmet and getting a headache so I’d wait a few more years before I try to do VR. The image isn’t enough to be taken seriously.
Is that something you’d want to do, a VR project?
Yeah maybe. But it’s a very lonely experience. I like showing movies in a big theater to many people at a time. I have this complex. I’ve never been to a church in my whole life and never seen a priest give lessons. But I can understand how a priest feels when he’s facing 300 people.
“Climax” is out now and expanding (again) this week. Do not miss it.
Edie Falco has just booked a ticket to Pandora. The Emmy-winning actress is joining the cast of James Cameron’s “Avatar” sequels.
Filming has already begun on the sequels, which will kick off with “Avatar 2,” slated to open Dec. 18, 2020.
Falco will play General Ardmore, a commander overseeing the interest of the RDA, the mega corporation with exclusive rights to Pandora and any off-Earth locations.
Edie Falco is one of the greats – I can't wait to watch her kick some ass on the big screen. https://t.co/f9i8PmKcE5
Details of the sequels’ plots remain unknown. But the end of the 2009 flagship film, Jake (Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldana) help the Na’vi rebel against the RDA and drive them from the planet. With Falco’s casting, it seems likely the RDA will return to attempt to take back what they consider theirs.
After “Avatar 2,” “Avatar 3” is slated for Dec. 17, 2021; “Avatar 4” on Dec. 20, 2024; and finally “Avatar 5” on Dec. 19, 2025.
The four forthcoming “Avatar” sequels may have names.
James Cameron is currently in production on the follow-ups to his 2009 blockbuster. Details about the sequels have remained closely guarded, but BBC News reports it has seen documentation outlining the four planned titles.
These titles have not been confirmed by Cameron or 20th Century Fox, so take them with a (huge) grain of salt.
They are:
Avatar 2: The Way of Water
Avatar 3: The Seed Bearer
Avatar 4: The Tulkun Rider
Avatar 5: The Quest for Eywa
Whether these are the true titles, or even working titles, it’s probable they’ll undergo some revisions before hitting theaters. “Avatar 2” won’t be released until 2020 and “Avatar 5” is still far off in the future of 2025.
The first title “The Way of Water” does make sense, as Cameron as previously said the movie will introduce the Na’vi reef people of Metkayina. Cilff Curtis has been cast as their leader and Kate Winslet will be a member of the clan.
And the “Avatar 5” title references Eywa, the deity worshipped by the Na’vi.
“Avatar 2” is slated for release December 18, 2020; “Avatar 3” on December 17, 2021; “Avatar 4” on December 20, 2024; and “Avatar 5″on December 19, 2025.
We still have more than two years before the first of four planned “Avatar” sequels is set to hit theaters, but according to star Sigourney Weaver, half of those films have finished shooting. And what little the actress can reveal about them so far should certainly pique fans’ interest.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Weaver chatted about the status of the follow-ups, which are in the midst of an ambitious — and unprecedented — back-to-back-to-back-to-back shooting schedule, led by writer-director James Cameron. The actress told THR that she “just finished shooting two and three,” referring to “Avatar 2” and “Avatar 3” (whose names we assume will change as their release dates approach), and is now working on “Avatar 4” and “Avatar 5.”
Cameron has already stated that the production will be using the most revolutionary filmmaking technology currently available, and that will be implemented in part while shooting underwater scenes. According to Weaver, she “learned how to free dive” for the films, and “did many scenes underwater which was challenging and kind of cool.”
That setting is a key piece of the “Avatar” sequels’ puzzle, the actress told THR, and “the water becomes another world.” All told, each film is its own story, but the four features unite to become “a big saga.”
“They’re amazing,” Weaver gushed to THR, echoing previous comments she made about the long-awaited follow-ups to the 2009 original. “There’s a message to not sacrifice everything for greed and conquest. It will take all four movies to really make that message loud and clear for the whole world.”
It certainly sounds like “Avatars 2-5” will follow in the first film’s footsteps in that regard. Now, the only thing that remains to be seen is whether or not they meet their current release dates.
As it stands, “Avatar 2″is set to premiere on December 18, 2020, followed by “Avatar 3” on December 17, 2021, “Avatar 4” on December 20, 2024, and “Avatar 5” on December 19, 2025.
