IceFire9yt

I was expecting more after Ragnarok, but this was still a fun romp. Particularly liked the entire scene with Zeus and the other gods, as well as the entire ending, Thor enchanting the kid's weapons was awesome and I didn't see it coming. I love that Gorr (free from the necrosword) was able to be talked down and brought his daughter back instead. All the characters were great (Valkyrie is my fave ❤️) and I liked the chemistry between them. That being said, the entire movie does feel rushed. It really could have used an extra half hour to flesh everything out and make it feel more cohesive. I would have liked for Valkyrie to get more of an arc and there could have been more setup to Jane getting the hammer (though I do like the explanation of Thor asking Mjolnir to take care of her, just wish that could have been expanded upon a bit). The action also leaves something to be desired. Compared to some of the stuff we see in Shang-Chi and Multiverse of Madness (or Ragnarok), it just feels uninspired. The only action moments that stick out to me is the end with the kids, and Valkyrie fighting in Omnipotent City (mostly because of how much she's reveling in it, lol). The short runtime does make the movie fly by though, and there wasn't any point where I wasn't enjoying it, so I wouldn't say the movie wastes your time, but it does feel like wasted potential. I just have the sense that this could have been an all time great movie, and instead its just a fun movie that you shouldn't take too seriously. I am really interested in seeing a followup with Thor and his adopted daughter, though. What we see of them at the end is very cute, and I'd love to see more of their adventures. I hope Taika Watiti gets another shot at this and that they can iron out the kinks that happened this time around. Phase 4 movie rankings: 1.) Multiverse of Madness 2.) No Way Home 3.) Shang-Chi 4.) Thor: Love and Thunder 5.) Black Widow 6.) Eternals

I just have a hard time devoting enough time to watch TV shows in general. I've watched a few of the MCU shows, but I have other priorities.

29M is good. We'll have to see how WOM plays into the weekend. MoM's internal multi would push this past 150M.

Yeah, charlie called it.

Btw, what is the current average ticket price? None of the sites I looked at have updated it since 2019, guessing the pandemic has screwed up getting a read on it. Are we going to get an updated official estimate this year?

Black Widow got a 6.09x this time of year, admittedly for a smaller opening, but with the VOD release kneecapping it. I think that'd be a better starting point for expectations. And for the NWH comparison, Christmas Break + 50M previews >>> Summer + 25ish.

I feel like people have swung over from over-predicting to under-predicting this. People are too stuck on the Multiverse of Madness comp. Its going to be more walk up heavy than DS2, and its going to have a better internal multi. DS2 was more hyped, had mixed reception, and on top of that its Sunday has handicapped by it being Mother's day. NWH was a mega-hyped holiday opener. I don't think Love and Thunder is going to behave like those. Yes, movies are more preview heavy post pandemic, but not that much. JW TFK had a 9.67x, while Dominion got 8.06x Venom got 8.03x, while Let There Be Carnage had 7.76x. Fate of the Furious had a 9.5x, while F9 had a 9.86x. 150M would be fine, kinda meh, but not like, a disaster. I think it'll do more, though.

Decided to actually compile the early reactions for both this and MoM posted on the BOT threads, there's a very clear difference. -No one was saying MoM was the best of phase 4, their favorite/top 5 MCU movie, etc. A lot of reactions for L&T were willing to explicitly state that. -A lot more of the positive reactions for MoM had minor qualifiers. -MoM had more mixed and negative reactions than L&T, even though it had half as many reactions total. So yeah, don't see this getting below 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.

This discussion feels very premature. Frankly there's zero evidence of a decline in box office performance, and negative evidence of a decline in interest. We're, what, 6 months out from a movie that made 800M domestic? The problem with MoM definitely wasn't interest or hype (which were off the charts), it was mixed reception. So this idea that people are tuning out Marvel movies doesn't pass the sniff test. I think we are seeing a decline in interest for the shows due to oversaturation. Frankly the pace of the shows feels unsustainable, but there's no sign that this has affected interest in the movies. As for reception, keep in mind that all of this is stemming from 2 movies. If L&T, BP2 Quantumania and The Marvels are all well liked all the people extrapolating out are going to look very silly. My guess is that Marvel is loosening up with it's movies and giving directors more freedom, less oversight. Whether that's intentional or a result of being overstretched it's hard to say. Either way it's not like they can't can't course correct, if that is what's going on.

I'm not going in expecting to like L&T more than MoM (not discounting it, though!), but I loved MoM so I'm coming at it from a different direction. Anyway, I'm fully expecting L&T to be a bit chaotic and overstuffed. Ragnarok definitely rushed through stuff (like Odin's death) and had a pretty brisk pace. I love it, but it's clear that the movie had it's priorities and having a properly paced plot wasn't one. So if Taika is leaning in on his style I can definitely see it rubbing some the wrong way.

Even in phase 2 there was an overall sense of direction. Thor 2, GOTG, and AoU all introduced Infinity Stones. GOTG, and the Avengers and AoU after credit scenes teased Thanos. It wasn't like there was a relentless drive towards Infinity War, but it was something in the background. I think having that sense of structure for the larger universe is important. Something that turns the cinematic universe into something that feels like a story rather than just one thing happening after another. I do think that Phase 4 has felt directionless. With Loki, What If, NWH, and MoM, people were starting to latch on to the multiverse as the new source for that story, which I think partially explains why people where disappointed the the Multiverse wasn't that big a focus of MoM. Frankly, I have no idea what they're planning for the future of the MCU. There are many other possibilities, but they just haven't been explored as much as the multiverse has.

Granted I haven't watched most of the shows, but I don't see how Phase 4 could worse than Phase 1. Just...what? Are the shows that bad?

Remember when Endgame leaked and a bunch of people spoiled themselves and decided they hated the movie off of it?

The reactions are reminding me of GOTG2. Critically it wasn't quite as well received as the original. While I thought it was messier, it had more heart and I do prefer it to the first. I would be very satisfied if that were the experience for Love and Thunder in comparison to Ragnarok.

I'm beginning to suspect that around 2013 someone at DC wished upon a monkey's paw for the DCEU to make cinematic history. At this point, it just feels like the DCEU is cursed and needs to be purged by fire.