Same here in Australia! There's a major buzz for it. It came out on ANZAC day, which was a smart move because, c'mon - public free holiday + majorly hyped up blockbuster movie = lotsa lotsa money! I saw it twice then. Bloody good movie. I'm considering seeing it a third time later next month too.

Overall, I enjoyed the Avengers over DOTM by far.  

 

Avengers= 1963
Transformers = 1984

So to answer your question, yes

 

I think the third Batman film is going to be a test of was it Batman that was packing people into the theaters or did the shock of losing Heath Ledger at such a young age was the draw. You have to remember that Batman Begins only took in $372 million world wide.

There is also the question of will Bane be as big of a draw as the Joker. It kind of seems that Catwoman added to the cast to hedge bets that not all the Batman fans are crazy for Bane.

 

I think Marvel's just done a great job of developing their properties, a few years ago, I don't think most people could tell who Iron Man was, but Marvel has made him a household name.

 

The best movie all time
Best Big, High Box office.

 

Would you care to make sense, because all I see is an image and some word that aren't joining together propperly.

 

No, Whedon's not a saint. He's just a damn good storyteller.

I didn't always agree with his choices while watching his shows, but I always found that to be an undeniable truth. Characters matter, and when characters die it matters (not just for the audience, but also for the other characters in the story). It's all about the execution (no pun intended)....Whedon knows how to craft characters and stories.

But Batman Begins was following after the craptacular (understatement) Batman & Robin - at that point, the general audience really had nothing to go on, no reason to believe BB would be as great as it was. Now people know. And that will get TDKR its audience. I don't know if it will do as well as TDK though.

 

The Avengers is going to be the better movie, moreso than any Transformers movie. But in terms of box office numbers, I think Transformers will still have the upperhand, just because of giant frickin' robots.

 

The Avengers had about five films of set-up, as well as having better actors (RDJ puts all around him to shame) and not VFX robots as its main draw. It's bound to be better.

But in terms of action/scale, it has a definite influence from DOTM. The producers even said they were influenced by DOTM in that area.

 

You know, I never did get that argument. It seems people always use the (very untrue imo) argument that it's transformers, it's supposed to be big and dumb. Should I just settle for big and dumb, then, should I not wish for a better movie on the simple falacy that it's "supposed" to be like this. Well, I found The avengers to be as big as DOTM, and probably more, but I did not find it dumb.

I will give an edge in TF, though. The soundtrack is much better. The avengers' soundtrack is just there for the sake of it.

As for box office, at least in my country, I think it will not be as big. I (and I speak only for myself) did not notice as much advertising for the avengers as I did for DOTM (or Battleship, for that matter).

 

The other thing that The Avengers has in its favour is that it looks like a big blockbuster spectacle film, like Transformers, more than your run-of-the-mill superhero film. As we all know big spectacles tend to do very well overseas. I really do think that The Avengers can hit one billion. If it doesn’t, it will come a darn sight close.

 

Maybe good word of mouth will make up for a possible lack of marketing. So far I've heard almost nothing but very good things about Avengers. I'm even half-tempted to go see it in the cinema myself, and I really hate going to the cinema, the last time I did being perhaps for Hancock, and even then only because my girlfriend dragged me there on a promise.

 

Except the casual comic book hero fan don't possess that line of thinking. Most of them don't either pledge to sides; they just hand pick whichever heros that appeal to them. The whole DC vs Marvel "war" is non existent outside of nerds and nowhere near a Coke v. Pepsi rivalry.

Something Whedon does that pisses you off? I don't know much about him because I never watched Buffy or Firefly.

 

If Avengers does smash all records I'd hope those who could pull the strings for a Justice League movie would be taking notice.

 

The way DC has been handling their movie properties aside from Batman? Not gonna happen.

 

This is, of course, and sadly, very true....

 

Ah right, shame  

 

After the debacle that was Green Lantern (which cost a reported 200 million), WB is going to shrink back to its shell and makes nothing but Batman and Superman for the next decade I think. However, if The Avengers does cross 1 billion WW, I can see a remote possibility for a JLA movie if they think the moviegoers are starving for another Avengers-esque movie.

 

I've never been a big fan of the line of reasoning that you have to turn your brain off just to enjoy a film. I don't need award winning writing, but a vegetative state is not the best way for me to enjoy a film.

Perhaps brain dead cinema came about because our society got the odd idea that we should heap scorn upon intellect instead of saying being smart isn't such a bad thing.

 

It may not be bigger than DOTM, but you can be damn sure it'll be better.