Chapter 826: Jokes and Roasts Everywhere

On Saturday, The Avengers continued its strong performance. As excellent word-of-mouth spread, the film maintained a consistently high attendance rate.

Even though 4,480 theaters across North America were screening the film at full capacity, the surging crowds nearly crashed the ticketing system of Regal Entertainment Group, the nation's largest theater chain, due to the massive volume of simultaneous purchases. At some theaters, self-service POS kiosks overloaded and broke down from too many card swipes, forcing them to rely strictly on cash sales.

Despite the highly favorable situation, Duke and Warner Brothers did not let their guard down.

While it wasn't a pure fan-driven franchise like Twilight and remained remarkably friendly to casual moviegoers, The Avengers still catered to a core fanbase. Such fan-centric movies often opened big only to suffer steep drop-offs.

The Avengers had delivered a dazzling opening day that set a new North American box office record, but the marketing and promotional efforts of Duke, Warner Brothers, and Marvel Pictures never relaxed.

It was impossible for the film to maintain a single-day gross of $100 million, but Duke's team worked hard to stabilize its momentum and prevent a cliff-like plunge.

Across increasingly influential social media networks, review after review began surfacing. The Avengers had no fear of spoilers; its selling point had never been the plot.

"Explosive action from start to finish, with exceptionally brilliant 3D effects!"

"On one side of the film stands the Avengers, composed of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow. On the other side is the villainous faction, combining Loki and the powerful alien Chitauri army. A confrontation of this scale and magnitude is bound to overturn the established paradigm of superhero movies."

"In fact, the film succeeds at doing exactly that. From the devastating initial encounter between Loki and S.H.I.E.L.D., through the ongoing skirmishes among the superheroes and against Loki in the middle, all the way to the ultimate, explosive showdown in New York at the end, director Duke Rosenberg expertly controls the pacing and scale of every action sequence. Unlike Michael Bay's Transformers 3, which spent the entire film building up to a final hour-long 'Battle of Chicago,' the explosive moments in The Avengers run straight through the movie. One wave barely settles before another rises, steadily carrying the audience right into the grand finale in New York. It keeps the eyes busy while delivering a tremendously satisfying thrill ride."

"As a meticulously crafted 3D film, the 3D effects of The Avengers are top-tier. Some of the head-on collision scenes will make you subconsciously dodge and scream. This immersive, earth-shaking audiovisual experience fully highlights the overwhelming presence of The Avengers."

"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s two most eye-catching pieces of hardware—the Quinjet and the Helicarrier—along with the authentic backdrops of Stuttgart, Germany, and New York, America, make their stunning 3D debuts. Moreover, for those worried about 3D motion sickness, I can speak from personal experience: throughout the nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime, I felt absolutely no dizziness or discomfort."

"Advice: Moviegoers should handle their 'personal business' beforehand. Otherwise, even if you think you've found a safe bathroom break, you'll later realize you missed an even more spectacular scene."

"Superheroes sparring in turns, with vastly different personalities echoing the prequels."

"How do you seamlessly merge six superheroes into one movie? Duke Rosenberg delivers again! The character imbalance that many worried about never materializes. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye first take turns brawling among themselves before each individually engaging in close-quarters combat with Loki."

"In terms of their initial infighting, the fierce, no-holds-barred physical brawls between Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor—where none of them respect each other in the slightest—make the blood boil. And this animosity isn't just physical; sharp-tongued banter becomes a highly effective weapon for them to mock and tear each other down."

"Aside from the well-known 'flirtatious exchanges' between Black Widow and Captain America, Thor from Asgard and the initially indiscriminately hostile Hulk deliver another bizarre, evenly matched one-on-one showdown."

"But true to the name Avengers, the sparring between heroes is merely the inevitable friction of forming a team. When Earth's safety faces a grave threat, these previously independent superheroes still cast aside their differences to face a common enemy, launching a life-and-death struggle against Loki. And in this unprecedented cooperation, they realize they are indispensable to one another, proving that the strength of the team is invincible."

"Every hero in the film not only interacts with the other characters but also gets their own exclusive moments to shine. This is especially true for Black Widow and Hawkeye, who haven't had their own solo films; this time, we get ample time to understand their pasts. Furthermore, Marvel wisely links The Avengers to its five preceding movies. Pepper from the Iron Man series makes a surprise appearance, and while Jane Foster from Thor doesn't appear on screen, we learn of her whereabouts through Agent Coulson..."

"Advice: To fully grasp the character dynamics, take some time to review the five previous Marvel films that paved the way for The Avengers. Otherwise, while everyone else is going crazy with hype, you'll just be left bewildered by the chaotic superhero brawl on screen."

"Jokes and roasts everywhere, as the traditional easter eggs continue."

"The best part, of course, is saved for last. Aside from the explosive action—which goes without saying—my biggest surprise with The Avengers was the brilliant humor filling the interactions between the characters: the sarcastic dialogue, the roasts, and the constant witty comebacks. Stripped of their self-righteous masks and facades, the superheroes reveal their true natures, adding a much-needed lighthearted seasoning to this intense, high-stakes action blockbuster."

"Whether it's the silver-tongued Iron Man, the out-of-touch Captain America, the self-important Thor, or the punch-first-ask-questions-later Hulk, these incredible heavyweights start out despising each other. They constantly adopt a relentless, unforgiving attitude regardless of who is actually in the right. Their sharp quips and hilarious one-liners fly back and forth, drawing continuous roaring laughter."

"Among them, the brand-new Hulk steals the spotlight. Beyond the roaring enemy-smashing seen in the trailers, Mark Ruffalo's version of the Hulk shows a rare, endearingly comedic side, delivering side-splittingly funny interactions with both Thor and Loki. Furthermore, the ambiguously charged dialogue between the two god-brothers made many of the female audience members scream in delight."

"In addition to the endless stream of jokes, The Avengers continues the Marvel tradition of easter eggs. Stan Lee's cameo this time is exceptionally noticeable, and a long line of dialogue ensures his screen time lasts for several seconds."

"Of course, the most shocking easter egg is the customary post-credits scene. A formidable character once rumored to be one of the film's villains makes a surprise appearance. His cryptic dialogue is both chilling and intriguing, leaving us to wonder: what daunting challenges will the Avengers face after this flawless debut?"

"Advice: Be careful when eating popcorn or drinking cola, otherwise you're highly likely to choke during one of the sudden comedic moments. Additionally, since this easter egg has been moved up before the full cast and crew credits, everyone must be patient and not rush to leave!"

Meanwhile, Duke also left Los Angeles, embarking on a promotional tour.

Since The Avengers was opening simultaneously in nearly a hundred countries and regions, including heavyweight markets like Europe, Latin America, and China, Duke simply broke the cast up. All the major actors were individually responsible for the promotional work in a specific region. For example, Robert Downey Jr. went to Europe, while Mark Ruffalo, who possessed Latin heritage, went to Latin America.

Duke, alongside Scarlett, prepared to head to China once again at the invitation of the China Film Group.

Over the past year of 2011, the Chinese box office market had grown by more than thirty percent compared to the previous year, with the region's annual box office revenue surpassing the 10 billion RMB mark for the first time. Although this figure didn't seem particularly outstanding when compared to the sheer volume of the North American market, Duke knew full well that the Chinese market would only develop faster from here on out. In four years at most, the total annual box office revenue would exceed 40 billion RMB, becoming the second-largest market in the world, just behind North America.

Furthermore, a Chinese leader had just concluded a visit to America, reaching a series of agreements with the Federal Government, among which cultural exchange was highly prominent.

China and the United States were set to establish a series of exchange and cooperation symposiums, including the "Sino-US Cultural Forum," the "Sino-US Museum Forum," the "Sino-US Literature Forum," the "Sino-US Film Summit Forum," and the "Sino-US Creative Industry Forum," all aimed at strengthening the cultural and ideological foundation of Sino-US humanities exchanges.

All of this would greatly benefit Hollywood films in their continued expansion into the Chinese market.

On the flight to China, Duke received the Saturday North American box office flash report promptly forwarded by Warner Brothers. Following the super explosion of its opening day, the attendance rate and single-day box office for The Avengers had inevitably experienced a decline.

Fortunately, the film's audience word-of-mouth remained robust, and the marketing strategies were extremely targeted. The drop was not significant, only eighteen percent. For Saturday alone, The Avengers took in $82.54 million in the North American market.

In just two days, The Avengers had already reaped nearly $200 million at the North American box office. This left many people utterly stunned and solidified the resolve of numerous studios to push for crossover films featuring their own famous cinematic characters.

For instance, Twentieth Century Fox was plotting a cinematic universe plan for the X-Men, while Universal Pictures intended to have its monsters, such as Count Dracula, team up on the silver screen once more.

From a marketing and promotional standpoint, Marvel Pictures also announced its Phase Two plans on Sunday. Films such as Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, Thor 2, and Guardians of the Galaxy were all put on the agenda.

Shortly after Duke arrived in China, The Avengers finally concluded its opening weekend run in North America.

Right around this time, Nancy Josephson contacted one of the lead actors of Fast and Furious 5 on Duke's behalf.