‘Endgame’ directors eager to overthrow ‘Avatar’

Russo brothers’ film is inching closer to Cameron’s $2.788 billion haul


Afp July 20, 2019
PHOTO: MARVEL.COM

LOS ANGELES: Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo said on Friday it would be a "big thrill" to pass the all-time box office record held by Avatar, as they set out plans to collaborate with a number of different stars from the Marvel superhero universe.

Smash hit Endgame is inching closer to surpassing James Cameron’s $2.788 billion haul. It is currently just $5 million short and was still playing in 1,400 US theatres over the past weekend despite being released in April.

PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: FILE

"James Cameron has always been an idol of ours. He fed our passion for filmmaking from the beginning, and to be so close to one of his great films is really special," said Anthony at San Diego Comic-Con, the world's largest pop culture convention.

The film-making brothers told a Hall H panel their next project Cherry, starring Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, will be a mature and complicated look at the US opioid crisis, based on a 2018 novel set in the brothers' hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

PHOTO: MARVEL UNIVERSE/TWITTER PHOTO: MARVEL UNIVERSE/TWITTER

"It's touched our families, the crisis, so it's a deeply personal movie for us," said Anthony. "Joe and I are now in a position now where we can get those movies made, and we want to use that sort of capital that we built up," he added.

Filming will begin in October. The pair also showed a new trailer for 21 Bridges starring Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman, which hits cinemas in September.

PHOTO: REDDIT PHOTO: REDDIT

Footage of the gritty cop drama in which a detective shuts down Manhattan bridges and tunnels to hunt a cop killer over one night featured noir-ish action-filled scenes including gunfights and car chases.

The Russos are also producing Dhaka, a Chris Hemsworth (Thor) film shot in India and directed by former Marvel stuntman Sam Hargrave and a new remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Michael B Jordan, another Black Panther alumnus. Anthony received the Best Movie award for Avengers: Endgame at the 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards.

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