The End of an Era

In the previous installment of the Marvel series Avengers: Infinity War, the audience excitedly walked into the theatre only to come out shaken and surprised. “There was pin-drop silence because Thanos, with the help of the Infinity Gauntlet, had destroyed half the world, including many superheroes. We’ve always been taught that good triumphs over evil, but here, Thanos got his way,” shares Herold Quadros, an avid fan of Marvel comic books and the Avengers movies and is among the millions of fans looking forward to Avengers: Endgame - the 22nd film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and possibly, the last film in the Avengers movie series.

The Hollywood film is set to hit the screens today and theatres across the country are bracing for the film frenzy by offering as many shows as possible, from the ungodly hours of dawn to the dead of the night.

Herold, like several other prudent fans across the country, booked his tickets weeks in advance to beat the rush. The frenzied booking over the last couple of days has resulted in sold-out shows and app crashes, both of which can be real dampeners for those hoping to catch an early watch of the film (The later you watch, the more spoilers you’re exposed to). The Bookmyshow website and app crashed as a million people logged on to book tickets, while the Paytm app, which was offering two free tickets, led to a further furore in the bookings. Incidentally, Avengers: End Game is the biggest ever Hollywood release in India spanning over 2,500 screens in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. The makers also tried to make the film big in India by flying down director Joe Russo and getting AR Rahman to put together an anthem for the Indian versions. Names like Rana Daggubatti, AR Murugadoss, Vijay Sethupathi and Andrea Jeremiah have been roped in to make the film bigger. Robert Downey Jr, who plays Iron Man, also did an interaction with fans in India.

The effort has surely paid off as cinemas across the country are seeing a mammoth number of bookings. Bikram Duggal, head of Studio Entertainment at Disney in a statement said, “With every title, the popularity and fan-following of Marvel’s Super Heroes have grown exponentially in the country. Through the unique storytelling, action adventure, quirky humour, and superlative content, Marvel movies are among the most-awaited movies in India. And the initial peek through the trailer has quadrupled the expectations and response,” while Ashish Saksena, Chief Operating Officer (Cinemas) at BookMyShow, said in a statement,  “We expect Avengers: Endgame to break more records as cinemas continue to open the advance bookings. “Even Comic-Con India has organised screenings for fans in Mumbai and Delhi and founder of Comic Con India, Jatin Varma says, “The expectations for Endgame are beyond the roof. The initial reviews are already giving it a great rating, thus increasing the hype further. We at Comic-Con India have organised fan screenings in Mumbai and Delhi, and there is already a waitlist for them. This opening weekend is going to be a roller coaster ride. My only request to everyone is not to share spoilers.”