Avengers: Endgame
While delayingBlack Widowwas heavily enough for Disney , had the coronavirus pandemic strike in 2019 , they would ’ve had a much different problem on their manus withAvengers : Endgame . As the closing of 22 film over the first 11 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe , there was a lot disembarrass onAvengers : Endgame , and how to handle delaying that flick would have looked a fate unlike than what ’s happening right now .
retaliator : Endgameset an obscene number of box office disk when it issue forth out , from lead off off with the widest vent of all - clip with 4,662 theaters all the way to inch pastAvatarfor thehighest - gross motion-picture show . It even manipulate the conversation about picture show and spoiler to an unprecedented storey , with people walking on eggshells to check that they did n’t spoilEndgamebecause the directors asked nicely .
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All of this was dependent on gettingEndgameout in as many theatre as possible , which is a very unlike narrative in the centre of a pandemic . Had the coronavirus pandemic hit a year before , here ’s what thing would have looked like for Marvel Studios run low into their biggest movie ever .
Would Marvel Have Delayed Avengers: Endgame?
In short , yes . Marvel would ’ve had to delayAvengers : Endgame . It would ’ve been a elusive determination to make , much harder than delayingBlack Widow . Withmassive theater of operations closuresand everyone else pushing back movies , though , there would n’t have been much of a choice in the matter . Disney had to make back the money they put into makingEndgame . Between shooting it back - to - back withAvengers : Infinity War , Disney formally spent about $ 670 million , not including marketing price , which would ’ve ultimately increase had the film been delay .
Infinity Waralready made a short ton of money , but Disney still ask a huge return fromEndgameto make a net on the whole endeavor . That ’s not the time to stress releasing a moving picture when a lot of theaters are closed or tryingrisky early VOD liberation . The special marketing spend was conk out to make it less profitable , but that ’s better than hoping the few theaters left open could deform out any meaning number of moviegoers or that a wild VOD release strategy would ’ve paid off . After all , a giving reasonEndgamebecame such a achiever is due to repeat viewings … in theaters .
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How A Delay Would’ve Impacted Avengers: Endgame’s Box Office
DelayingEndgamewould’ve caused some strange issue with the boxful office returns , mess with how well Disney could make that money back . follow out in April , it had the entire summertime to run in dramaturgy for repeat viewings and a couple of weeks to run without any existent contention , untilJohn Wick 3andAladdinknocked it from the # 1 slot . Even then , it was still rend in respectable numbers week - to - week , specially with thererelease in June to break it up pastAvatarfor the highest - grossing movie of all prison term .
DelayingAvengers : Endgamewould’ve thrust this all off . expect for enough theaters to reopen , for moviegoer to sense convinced in going to field of operations again , and restarting the marketing machine would have taken a lot of time . Most likely , the late June re - release would ’ve been one of the earlier possible times Disney could have safely debutedEndgame , which would ’ve put it in competition with a lot more movies . Not only were some movies already on the docket , likeThe Lion Kingin July , but everything that would ’ve been stay along withEndgamewould’ve been fight back for outlet date as well . It ’s suddenly intensely crowd , rather thanEndgamegetting detached reign over the box authority .
Would there even have been room for a re - sacking then ? It came two months out , but if the movie was delay to late June / former July , that would put the re - release outside of the common summer window . Marvel can make movies succeed at unusual times of year ( seeBlack Panthermaking $ 1 billion in February , usually a cinematic wasteland ) , but there ’s still an advantage to being free when school is out for the summer . It was fitting that Marvel ’s biggest movie ever became the handsome moving-picture show ever at the box office , but delaying it into increased challenger later in the yr make it seem like that would ’ve been an out of the question project .
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How Endgame’s Delay Would’ve Impacted Marvel’s Future Slate
The thing about Marvel movies is that they all touch on each other , so delayingEndgamewould have had belt - on effects for the respite of the MCU . In this picky case , it might have been easier to handle , but it still could ’ve caused a bunch of eye mask to precipitate that caused problems for belated movies . deal with the obvious first , Spider - Man : Far From Homewould’ve had to be delayed . It ’s in a precarious position , being a Sony movie with a tenuous deal with Disney . Far From HomerequiredEndgameto make any sentience . Sony would n’t put out one movie that spoil everything that happens in another . It belike would ’ve worked well coming out two months afterEndgame , as actually happened , but that would putFar From Homein September at the earliest , well outdoors of the usual summertime timeline .
The one saving goodwill for Marvel in that site would ’ve been the time they let the macrocosm sit betweenFar From Home(July 2019 ) andBlack Widow(May 2020 , though that ’s now delayed).Natasha ’s dying inEndgamewas given a great deal of prison term to sink in before the next movie with her in it , but it did n’t necessarily have to be a whole year . Assuming that output onBlack Widowdidn’t shut down so long to make it miss the release particular date , Endgamecould’ve released quite late and still open everyone enough time for it to sink in before her next adventure . The long gap would ’ve also take into account other production to shut out down then get back up and running with minimal impact on hitting their release escort . The big problem in the real world is that a lot ofMCU projects were in the middle of productionwhen coronavirus remove , while there would n’t have been nearly as much in the alternate reality where it struck a class before .
While later production would ’ve been mostly fine , the likely wallop of Disney have got to delayAvengers : Endgamewould’ve been monolithic . Everything Disney / Marvel had been building up to was riding on that movie , and its release ended up work out out utterly to make it the highest - grossing movie of all time . In a world where coronavirus struck down Hollywood in 2019,Avengers : Endgamewould’ve never hit that mark , and while the pic was unlikely to have been a failure , it would n’t have been nearly the success that it was .
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