Marvel Studios released their 19th film in their running franchise, Avengers Infinity War which is the culmination of the past ten years of films, connecting all previous characters shown in these films. The highly anticipated film held high expectations from fans and average movie goers alike. And surely enough, Avengers Infinity War delivered. Shattering the box office record for biggest opening weekend with $258 million dollars. And amassing a gross of $648 million worldwide in just three days of its release. Cyprus was on the hype train as well. With reports coming in that Avenue Cineplex in Nicosia had been booked full for four days straight specifically for Infinity War. We asked a few questions to EMU students who have seen the movie and this is what they had to say.
“What were your general thoughts about the Infinity War?” was the first question we asked. “Before watching it, I knew it would be good, but when I watched it I was shocked of how great it was” were Mohammed Obada Bahri’s words, while Rawan Asmar stated “I honestly really loved and enjoyed it. It has got to be one of my favorite Marvel movies yet”.
When asked about why the students think this movie is already breaking records worldwide, Mofya Chambula had this to say “I think Marvel has consistently made good movies over the last ten years. Not everything works but the consistent production of not just comic book movies but good pieces of cinema has been key in their dominance of the box office, also the marketing cannot be ignored, it had a large marketing budget (150 million dollars I think) they really want people who don’t follow the movies to show interest”. Abdullah Al Maisari added by saying “Because it’s one of a kind crossover, a good story with plenty of plot twists in it”.
After that, we inquired on how the students thought the movie was able to balance a wide array of characters. Rawan Asmar said “Time is key. They were able to successfully give a certain amount of screen time to each team of characters without making anyone overpower the other”.
Finally, we asked the students about how they think Infinity War will impact films in the future, and about other companies attempting to replicate the success of Marvel Studios by creating their own shared movie universes. Mufya Chambula responded by saying “Marvel took their time. They had a clear picture of what they wanted to do, they picked a great director for the first Iron Man movie and it just took off, the planning was key and I think being the first to try and attempt a connected universe in film on that scale helped. They built these characters and allowed us to know them. And with extremely talented directors telling these stories and allowing us to really care for them. An example would be Guardians of the Galaxy (probably Marvel’s biggest risk along with Ant-Man) are now fan favorites. Other movie companies I feel are just reacting to the success of the MCU and want to cut into that market share, the movies feel rushed and character development and world building is basically nonexistent. As for impact, the MCU already stands as a blueprint for how to build a cinematic universe and it probably has inspired young directors today”. While Rawan Asmar said “A lot of other companies and movies will see the amount of time and effort put into the scenes of this movie and it will be a motivator to them to reach that success”.
And so, the Marvel machine keeps coming out with blockbuster movies time and time again. And the students of EMU seem to be all on board with the franchise that despite it being a major studio that’s concerned with profit, is still putting fans first and delivering quality storylines and films for moviegoers everywhere.
By Anas Abdulhak
