THE AVENGERS Top THE DARK KNIGHT In Record Breaking Midnight Screenings: May Eclipse $600m Worldwide By Sunday!! Marvel Needs To Lock Down Joss Whedon! 8.5 Stars Out Of 10!!

First of all, there are NO spoilers in this post! However the same can't be said of the comment section which is open to free opinions on any aspect of the movie. 

Yes!! I love record breaking news. Really, deep down, sincerely, without a doubt I love this news. THE AVENGERS ($18.7m) in gloriously converted 3D has bested THE DARK KNIGHT ($18.5m) as the top grossing superhero film in midnight opening night history. That is saying a lot when you consider the immense awareness that TDK had with the untimely death of it's star Heath Ledger.


But more than that, it alludes to a worldwide acceptance of not only 3D, but the resurgence of 3D conversion. We all remember too well the CLASH OF THE TITANS debacle that kicked conversion squarely in the face and through transitivity, 3D itself. How far we have come. Marvel relied on the conversion company Stereo D once again to add the second eye to this movie as they have with their other recent conversions in THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA.

Hats off to Stereo D. They are not the only game in town obviously, but they are clearly top tier. The depth was amazing when needed and talk about a professional job. As a viewer, they accomplished exactly what you want to accomplish whether you are converting or shooting in native 3D, you FORGOT you were watching 3D. The scenes draw you in. I still prefer native 3D mind you, but wow - conversion has come A LONG WAY let me tell you.

May I say that IRON MAN looked OUTSTANDING in 3D. His flight scenes in THE AVENGERS AMAZED. It is beyond me why Jon Favreau opted to not use 3D because he did fans a huge disservice by ignoring it. I was actually upset watching THE AVENGERS because when seeing Tony Stark all suited up and blasting around in 3D all I could think about is wanting Favreau's first two movies converted and re-released! It looked THAT good.

You can expect THE AVENGERS to top $600 million worldwide by Sunday. An amazing figure for such a young movie. IMAX screenings continue to sell out locally so I couldn't wait any longer and caught it in RealD which looked stunning too. Folks - the larger the screen the better, so if you have RealD XL locally - go for it. IMAX? Go for it. Ask your theater which screen is the largest and get tickets for that one.


If I was in Marvel's shoes right now, I'd be locking down Joss Whedon to a long term commitment to write, produce and direct as many of my properties as I could. Whedon simply HAMMERED the concept for THE AVENGERS into his own world and resolutely and flat out won. It's almost a perfect superhero genre movie. So close. I would only change such small things that it really doesn't matter when you see the whole thing in action.

If you haven't seen the movie yet - get out and do it. It's an event movie. It will be a huge part of what defines 2012 in the annals of movie history. Some projections have the movie making $300m+ domestically this weekend (if it follows the path that SPIDER-MAN 3 or IRON MAN 2 did), but I am hopeful of a $175m to $200m weekend in North America. In any event I look to see it continue to best THE DARK KNIGHT.


So tell me, where is DC Comics throughout these past few years? Relying on BATMAN alone is not cutting it. Marvel has the formula and they had better catch up. GREEN LANTERN was an attempt but was it the caliber of IRON MAN? Or even CAPTAIN AMERICA? No.

Where is THE FLASH? What a shame the scarlet speedster is no where to be seen in this day and age of the comic book superhero on the big screen. I'm amazed at the lack of direction here. Bring me aboard Warner Bros., I'll show you want titles need to get put out! :-)

Anyway, I digress. THE AVENGERS are finally assembled, the audience is there and the 3D, is well remarkable. GO SEE THIS MOVIE! Oh and it you are a Hulk fan, this is YOUR movie! What a glorious return for Bruce Banner!! I was mesmerized. Giving the movie an 8.5 out of 10.