Where were you on this day 10 years ago?

Were you in the movie theater watching Iron Man (2008) on its first day in theaters and if so, did you ever imagine what was to come? 

Avengers: Infinity War Part One

This article was originally published in Nathaniel's intermittent column at Towleroad

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING THOUGHTS ARE FREE OF SPOILERS (THE MOVIE HAVING JUST OPENED) EXCEPT FOR THE MOVIE’S OPENING BATTLE AND A VAGUE SPOILER ABOUT THE GENERAL NATURE / IMPERMANENCE OF SUPERHERO DEATHS WITHIN THIS GENRE. IF YOU'D LIKE WE CAN DISCUSS IN MORE SPOILERY DETAIL A WEEK OR TWO FROM NOW. LET US KNOW.

If gloves make a big fashion comeback, blame Thanos. The alien destroyer has been haunting the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (aka The Avengers) from the sidelines (aka the post credits sequences) for a full decade of moviegoing. He's been on the hunt for the six “Infinity Stones,” (aka the Tesseract, The Aether, etc...) to decorate and power his universe-controlling glove (aka the “Infinity Gauntlet”). Sorry for all those ‘also known as’ asides but there are so many names to keep track of!

Consider, though it’s much less difficult if you don’t, that most of the six Infinity Stones have gone by at least two different names within the last decade’s worth of Marvel movies. We'll cite just one example since it’s crucial to the story.

The most familiar gem from the previous movies is “The Mind Stone”.  When last we checked in with our heroes it was sitting all lovely and golden on the broadly handsome expanse of The Vision’s Paul-Bettany shaped forehead… but it didn’t start there...

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Box Office: "Infinity Wars" tops "The Force Awakens" for Most Opening Weekend Loot

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (April 27th-29th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
Infinity War	Disobedience
1. 🔺 Avengers: Infinity War $250 NEW	1. Beirut $257k on 237 screens (cum. $4.5)
2. A Quiet Place $10.6 (cum. $148.1) REVIEW, SECOND OPINION, SCREENPLAY	2.  🔺 Disobedience $241k on 5 screens NEW REVIEW
3. I Feel Pretty  $8.1 (cum. $29.5)	3.  🔺 Lean on Pete  $240k on 167 screens (cum. $665k) REVIEW
4. Rampage  $7.1 (cum. $77.9)	4.  Death of Stalin $210k on 150 screens (cum. $347k) REVIEW
5. Black Panther $4.3 (cum. $688) PODCAST	5. 🔺 The Rider $188k on 37 screens (cum. $357k) REVIEW

Avengers Infinity War  is gigantic in just about every way and the audience responded in kind gifting it the biggest opening weekend of all time. Yes, even the super long awaited return of the Star Wars franchise The Force Awakens fell to Marvel Studio's magical gloved might... The studio is currently saying that Avengers beat the record by about $2 million dollars but Marvel tends to underestimate their opening weekends in a bit of a humble brag way so expect the margin to increase a bit. 

Elsewhere at the multiplex...

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Beauty vs Beast: Wakanda Forever

Jason from MNPP popping in from between Tribeca screenings to quick give us our Monday afternoon "Beauty vs Beast" fix -- I figure it's a Marvel Week what with that lil' Avengers movie opening in a couple of days and so what better time to step one step back and tackle their most recent smashing success, Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, which is still sitting pretty in the Top Ten, box-office-wise. 1.3 Billion dollars! I figure some of you have seen it? So let's face down its titular hero (Chadwick Boseman) and The Best Villain Marvel Has Given Us Yet Eric Killmonger (Michael B Jordan), which is totally that character's official name now.

survey solutions

PREVIOUSLY Mark Zuckerberg did even better than I expected with last week's The Social Network poll - he managed a whopping 14% of your vote, getting comfortably trounced, as well he should, by Rooney Mara's Erica. Said IanO:

"This is one Sorkin’s most electrifying scenes. I’m Team Erica because sometimes you see someone become a star (of a sort...) right in front of your areas, and it’s one of the greatest pleasures cinema. Plus she delivers that kiss-off line magnificently, with just a hint of pity and sadness colouring the brutality of the line. So even though I’m Team Erica, you have to give it up for Eisenberg too, who charts the journey from clueless arrogance to awful realisation beautifully. It’s one of favourite performances of the decade."

Carrie Coon Joins "Infinity War"

By Spencer Coile 

As if Carrie Coon couldn't impress us more, she recently confirmed (via Twitter) that she will play a villainous role in Avengers: Infinity War. Coon will play Proxima Midnight, a member of the Black Order, as she works with Thanos (Josh Brolin) to take down the Avengers. Her character was introduced to the comic book series in 2013 and is said to be the most treacherous member of the Order. 

If you're a Marvel buff, this must surely be exciting news. But if only half of those words make sense to you (same), fear not! Marvel's latest will be out on April 27, so that we can all soak up Carrie Coon's villainous motion capture performance in all its glory.  (Great, now it looks like I have to see Infinity War now.)