AVENGERS:
INFINITY WAR.

A TWO-PART EVENT FROM 2014

HOW MARVEL PLANNED ITS BIGGEST CROSSOVER

Marvel announced the film in October 2014 as a two-part sequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron, titled Infinity War – Part 1, and hired the Russo brothers in April 2015. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely signed on to write both parts the following month. The story draws on Jim Starlin’s 1991 comic The Infinity Gauntlet and Jonathan Hickman’s 2013 comic Infinity. Marvel shortened the title in July 2016, and Kevin Feige described the two films as distinct projects.

Markus and McFeely said on 21 March 2018 that they wrote the two films together. McFeely said they hoped the pair would feel like “breakfast and then lunch,” and Markus described starting from a “wall of characters.”

A VILLAIN WITH THE POINT OF VIEW

WHY THE FILM IS TOLD FROM THANOS’S SIDE

In April 2018 Joe Russo said the directors found it fascinating to tell a story “from the point of view of a villain.” He said the film is told from Thanos’s perspective, and Anthony Russo added that doing so had practical advantages. McFeely put it more bluntly:

“In many ways, it’s Thanos’ movie.”

Stephen McFeely, 21 March 2018

Josh Brolin voiced Thanos and performed him through motion capture on set. Digital Domain prioritised building the character, and that a simple motion-capture screen test of Brolin convinced Marvel’s executives that Thanos could carry the nuance he brought to the role.

ATLANTA, SCOTLAND AND IMAX CAMERAS

HOW THE FILM WAS SHOT

Principal photography began on 23 January 2017 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia, under the working title Mary Lou, with filming in Scotland from February 2017 and a wrap on 14 July 2017. The film was shot on ARRI Alexa IMAX 2D cameras, reportedly the first Hollywood feature shot entirely with IMAX digital cameras, on an estimated budget of $325 million to $400 million.

The cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Elizabeth Olsen, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña and Josh Brolin as Thanos.

A RECORD OPENING WEEKEND

HOW THE FILM OPENED AND WHAT IT EARNED

The film premiered on 23 April 2018 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and opened in the US on 27 April, in 4,474 theatres. Disney reported on 30 April 2018 that it had earned $257.7 million in the US and Canada and $640.4 million worldwide over the weekend, the biggest domestic opening and the highest global opening of all time. The company noted a $106.3 million Friday and record Saturday and Sunday totals of $82.1 million and $69.2 million.

It passed $2 billion worldwide on 12 June 2018, in 48 days, and its worldwide total, including a 2020 re-release, is about $2.05 billion.

THE REWATCH

AN 85% CRITICS SCORE AND A CLIFFHANGER

Rotten Tomatoes lists an 85% critics’ score from 486 reviews and a 92% audience score, and its consensus says the film “ably juggles a dizzying array of MCU heroes.” Metacritic gives it 68 from 54 critics, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an “A.” It received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects. A post-credits scene features Nick Fury and Maria Hill.

In the Marvel Marathon it sits in the MCU release order guide between Team Darryl and Ant-Man and the Wasp. In the MCU movies in order guide it comes between Black Panther and Ant-Man and the Wasp, and in the Marvel movies in release order guide it comes between Black Panther and Deadpool 2. In the Spider-Man movies in order guide it follows Spider-Man: Homecoming and comes before Venom, and in the MCU timeline guide it sits between Ant-Man and the Wasp and Avengers: Endgame.