Why Captain Marvel Crushed At The Box Office

Why Captain Marvel Crushed At The Box Office

It’s a familiar refrain, ‘X superhero movie made X amount of dollars in a huge opening weekend.’ We are over a decade, arguably almost two, into the comic book movie boom and it is common knowledge that superhero movies make a lot of money, those from the Marvel Cinematic Universe especially so. Yet the predictable nature of these successes does not make them any less impressive, and sometimes a movie surprises us, surpassing even the loftiest of expectations and thus warranting further examination.

It happened with Black Panther and Aquaman last year and now it is happening with Captain Marvel.

This is not to say that Captain Marvel will reach the heights of those aforementioned films, it’s far too early to tell, but it is off to an incredible start. Captain Marvel obliterated the most optimistic forecasts, rocketing to $153 million domestically in its opening weekend. Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) was an international hit as well. The movie earned $302 million overseas for a worldwide opening weekend of $455 million according to Deadline.

Those numbers are good enough for the 6th highest global debut of all time, the biggest March opening ever and the 2nd biggest worldwide opening for the MCU and superhero movies overall. So how did Captain Marvel go higher, further and faster than so many films before it to crush at the box office? Here are some ideas.

Avengers: Infinity War’s End-Credits Scene

Captain Marvel has not historically been an A-list character, and anecdotally, I don’t think she enjoyed the same cultural cachet or name recognition prior to her MCU debut of any of her forbearers save the Guardians of the Galaxy. So what did Marvel do? It gave her the ball in the red zone, a running start, a softball to knock out of the park via the end-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War.

Captain Marvel really couldn’t have been teed up better than it was thanks to that end-credits scene, which came on the heels of the most jaw-dropping, cliffhanger-y ending to the biggest superhero movie ever. Thanos had snapped his fingers and the Decimation scattered half our heroes to the winds, we were looking for answers and most importantly, hope.

That hope came when Nick Fury, in his dying act, when the hour was most late, called out for help using a strange pager that showed a symbol unfamiliar to many. That symbol was Captain Marvel’s and whether the majority of audiences knew that or not at the time, they probably found out and only became more curious to see the debut of the hero that could be the key to defeating Thanos.

That made Captain Marvel necessary viewing for Avengers: Endgame (although maybe audiences should have paid more attention to Ant-Man and the Wasp). It’s kind of remarkable that the Captain Marvel trailers and marketing didn’t lean into this by beginning with Nick Fury’s page, but it is clear that it didn’t matter.

Captain Marvel Is A New Hero

The MCU has grown by leaps and bounds since it began in 2008 but it still largely revolves around the same core group of characters. And while we love Black Widow, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and the rest, it is always exciting when a new hero gets introduced. It’s like unlocking a new character in a fighting game, we’re eager to see who they are and what they can do.

The introduction of new characters acts like a soft reset for the universe, like a new coat of paint or a software update, opening up new storytelling possibilities and different permutations for how they will interact with existing pieces. When that character is a new female hero leading her own movie, displaying powers we haven’t seen before, it feels fresh and different and that’s exciting for audiences.

Moreover, there is a reason that superhero movies go back to the well of origin stories so often, and that’s because they work and audiences love them. The last time we got a big new hero being introduced with their own solo movie in the MCU was last year’s Black Panther and before that in 2017 with Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Both of those characters were introduced first in Captain America: Civil War and their successes and the opening weekend of Captain Marvel shows that audiences are ready to meet new characters and see this universe expand. And that’s a good sign with many established characters likely leaving the universe as we head into Phase 4 and new ones take up their mantles.

The Release Date

As is the case with most MCU movies, Captain Marvel entered the weekend unopposed by any other major studio releases, so competition was null. More than that though, Captain Marvel came into the marketplace at a time when audiences were thirsting for a new blockbuster. The first two months of the year have not exactly been full of movies that have forced audiences to brave the winter cold.

Despite wonderful family friendly animated fare like The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World hitting theaters, they don’t really motivate mass audiences to go to the theater the way a live-action, PG-13 tentpole does. The only real movie that could qualify as a blockbuster in the same vein as the MCU flick is Alita: Battle Angel, which sadly didn’t have the power of the Marvel brand behind and was somewhat ignored by domestic audiences, despite being, I would argue, a better movie.

So audiences were ready and waiting for something like Captain Marvel to hit theaters and specifically they were waiting for an MCU film. In a lesson Star Wars could learn from, Captain Marvel arrived 3 months since the last big superhero film Aquaman; 8 months since the last MCU film Ant-Man and the Wasp and nearly a year since Avengers: Infinity War.

That build up since our last visit to the MCU meant that the public was eager to return and Captain Marvel arrived just in time to get us ready for Avengers: Endgame. Arriving on International Women’s Day was also a nice touch.

The Marvel Brand

Success breeds success and there is no more successful brand at the multiplex right now than Marvel Studios. Marvel movies crush at the box office both domestically and overseas and thanks to Captain Marvel’s performance, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will soon cross $18 billion at the box office over 21 films.

This level of unprecedented success isn’t just a result of the quality or entertainment value of the individual films themselves, it is the achievement of the Marvel brand. The MCU is more than the sum of its parts and audiences turn up on opening weekend because it is a Marvel movie. The Marvel name is a trusted one among general audiences, a guarantee of quality and entertainment regardless of what hero gets top billing.

That’s why nothing is really a gamble for Marvel anymore. The days when it was feared that Guardians of the Galaxy might be too obscure and weird to succeed are long gone. Marvel can take perceived risks with its films, like its first female-led superhero film with a lesser-known character because it’s not really a risk with the Marvel name attached.

That Marvel name also lets audiences know that this is the next chapter in the cinematic television series that is the MCU. Skipping out on Captain Marvel would be like missing an episode in a serialized television show. You have to see it because you want to be part of the conversation and see how this impacts things moving forward.

Captain Marvel Offered Something Different

The last reason I think Captain Marvel is crushing at the box office is because of all the things that it brings to the table that seem to set it apart from what’s come before. Captain Marvel herself is a new hero and this is Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie and that’s exciting but this film also offered us smaller things that may have appealed and enticed audiences to come to the theater.

For one the Skrulls and their shape-shifting ability offered a new type of villain in these movies and something that looked like it could be a lot of fun, as the battle with granny Skrull on the train in the trailers showed.There is also the fact that this is Marvel’s first film set in this time period. Many of the people who went to see this film may have lived through or grown up in the 1990s and have some affinity and nostalgic sentiment towards that decade.

Lastly, this film featured some strong supporting players. Audiences have been following Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury since 2008 and we all wanted to see him be in a buddy cop movie with Carol Danvers and find out how he lost his eye. Plus Goose, I mean come on; featuring the cat in the marketing was a smart play.

These elements may be superficial and ultimately Captain Marvel feels like fairly standard superhero origin story stuff, but it doesn’t matter because it looked different and interesting enough for people to show up and help it crush at the box office.

Whatever the reason for its success, Captain Marvel's debut has gotten the MCU's year off to a great start ahead of the all-important Avengers: Endgame next month and it is a positive sign that Carol Danvers can be one of the faces of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the years to come.

Captain Marvel is now playing. Check out what we thought of the film and what ticket you should buy when you see it. For everything else you can look forward to this year, take a look at our 2019 Release Schedule.

Clint Eastwood's Best Movies, Both As An Actor And As A Director

Clint Eastwood's Best Movies, Both As An Actor And As A Director

Clint Eastwood’s incredible career as an actor and director goes back almost seven decades, spanning from his early days in the spaghetti westerns directed by Sergio Leone to the modern-day masterpieces that he has directed. While many Hollywood stars have been both actors and directors, Clint Eastwood shines alone in his incredible success at both.

As a director, his movies have won multiple Academy Awards and he was won four individually, two for directing and two for Best Picture. He’s been nominated for another seven, including twice for his acting. Plus, he was once considered for the role of James Bond, despite being American.

A list of Clint Eastwood's best movies could stretch for miles, but I’ve picked out what I think are five of his best performances as an actor in movies he did not direct and five of his directing jobs, some of which he also acted in. Take a look.

Clint Eastwood As A Director

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)

You can’t talk about Clint Eastwood without starting with the Sergio Leone-directed “Man With No Name” trilogy, starting with A Fistful Of Dollars, followed by For A Few Dollars More, and wrapping up with the most famous, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. All three were released between 1964 and 1966 in Italy, but were all released in sequential order in the United States in 1967. The trilogy launched Eastwood into superstardom after his gritty, tough-guy performances as “The Man With No Name.”

Kelly’s Heroes (1970)

Kelly’s Heroes is a great heist/World War II flick that is often overlooked in Clint Eastwood’s stellar career, but looking back on it, it exemplifies just how big he had become by the time it was released in 1970. Eastwood stars as Private Kelly who leads an all-star cast on a hunt for Nazi gold, a cast that includes Telly Savalas, Carroll O’Connor, Donald Sutherland, and Don Rickles. The movie is full of military satire and it brilliantly walks a fine line between serious and ridiculous brilliantly. The tank scene as they approach the Nazi gold sets that tone perfectly.

Dirty Harry (1971)

Just like the spaghetti westerns of the sixties, the five Dirty Harry pictures in which Clint Eastwood played the title character would be enough for any normal actor to enter the pantheon of greats. For Eastwood, they are definitely a huge part of his legacy. His delivery of some of the most classic lines in cinema history, like “Go ahead make my day” and “Do you feel lucky?” are as much a part of the lexicon as anything Shakespeare ever wrote!

Escape From Alcatraz (1979)

For a certain generation, Escape From Alcatraz is one of those movies that seemed to always be on cable TV, like the Shawshank Redemption of the late '80s and early '90s. Based on a true story (though not very accurately), Clint Eastwood stars as Frank Morris, a prisoner at Alcatraz that organized the most infamous escape from the country’s most notorious prison. Was it successful? The film’s ending is somewhat ambiguous in answering that question because the truth is a mystery, Morris and the others were never seen again, nor were their bodies ever found.

In The Line Of Fire (1993)

In The Line Of Fire is a little bit of a rarity in that it is a later-era Clint Eastwood movie that he starred in, but didn’t direct. In it, Eastwood is washed-up Secret Service agent who was on the Presidential detail when Kennedy was assassinated and thirty years later finds himself working on another Presidential detail in light of information that a serious threat is being made on the President’s life. The antagonist, a would-be assassin played brilliantly by John Malkovich, taunts Eastwood with the past until it all leads to a climatic showdown between the two.

Clint Eastwood As A Director

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Clint Eastwood’s career as a director goes much further back than most people realize. While the Outlaw Josey Wales wasn’t the first film he directed, it was the one that really got his career as a director off the ground. It was a huge hit, wildly popular with the public and critics alike. Of course, Eastwood also stars in the movie as Josey Wales, a farmer hellbent on revenge for his wife’s killing by a Unionist during the Civil War.

Unforgiven (1992)

Unforgiven was a BIG deal. For starters, it marked Clint Eastwood’s return to the genre that first made him famous, both as an actor and as a director, the western. It was also a fantastic movie with top notch performances by Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, and Richard Harris. It is another revenge story with Eastwood, as Will Munny, going after a bounty set up by a group of prostitutes to avenge the beating of one of their own. For the film, Clint Eastwood won his first two Oscars, one for Best Picture and one for Best Director with this winner.

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

The second Oscar winner of Clint Eastwood’s directing career came for Million Dollar Baby. A deeply melancholy film, it tells the story of Eastwood as a washed up boxing trainer that gets one more shot with a gritty, down on her luck woman that wants to be a champion, played by Hilary Swank. It’s a tragic story and one that took years to make, as no studio initially wanted to make it. Eastwood proved them all wrong though, as the film pulled in four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress for Swank.

Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)

Letters From Iwo Jima is unique for a number of reasons. First, it’s an American movie that is almost entirely in Japanese. It is also the companion piece to Flags Of Our Fathers, which is the story of the Battle Of Iwo Jima from the America perspective while Letters From Io Jima is from the Japanese side. The two films were shot back to back in an incredibly ambitious project that you would expect from a younger, less accomplished director, not a 76-year-old will a huge bucketful of past laurels, like Eastwood. Sadly, neither movie did well at the box office, but no matter, just the ambitiousness and uniqueness of the two movies is worth seeking them out. Letters From Iwo Jima is definitely the better of the two, though both are excellent.

American Sniper (2014)

American Sniper is a movie that causes some division among viewers. In general, it has received rave reviews over the years and it was nominated for multiple awards, but it’s also pretty controversial, both for its subject matter and for Clint Eastwood’s filmmaking. The film stars Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle, a veteran of the Iraq War who was killed by a fellow soldier in 2013, just a year before the movie was released. The movie found a groundswell of support from veterans both for Cooper’s portrayal and Kyle’s story. Love it or hate it, it’s incredible to think that even at age 84, Eastwood was still putting out masterful films like this, just as he is today.

The word “icon” is thrown around a lot in Hollywood, often about people that while great, may not deserve the moniker. Clint Eastwood deserves it. Maybe moreso than anyone else. His incredible career has spanned multiple generations and multiple genres and even at age 88, he doesn’t appear to be slowing down. As long as he isn’t yelling at empty chairs.

Academy Awards Shoot Down Rule About Excluding Netflix From Oscar Nominations

Academy Awards Shoot Down Rule About Excluding Netflix From Oscar Nominations

Netflix had it's most successful year at the Academy Awards this year when the streaming service/movie studio saw Roma take home multiple awards. While it didn't win the big Best Picture prize, simply being nominated for the award was a major step. However, it was one that not everybody was happy to see.

The word on the street was that Steven Spielberg, a member of the directors branch of the Academy with a seat on the Board of Governors, would be asking for a change in the rules for Oscar nomination that would have prevented the current release practices of Netflix, where the film is only given a limited theatrical release in a few places before ending up on the streaming platform, from being nominated. However, the Board of Governors has now decided against any changes to eligibility requirements.

As it stood, any movie that had a seven day theatrical run, with at least three showings per day, in the city of Los Angeles, was eligible for nomination for Academy Awards. To that end, Netflix would release a film like Roma in order to meet those requirements, and at the end of that week, the film would debut on the streaming service for all subscribers to see.

It's unclear, based on what's reported by Variety, if a rule change was every formerly requested, however, Academy President John Bailey did say that the Academy would continue to study the broad changes occurring within the industry, so the possibility of future changes certainly remains open.

There are many who feel quite strongly that part of what constitutes a "movie" is the theatrical experience, and while a company like Netflix may offer that in a very limited fashion, it's certainly not what the company is about. The experience is truly different, it's hard to argue otherwise, but should awards only be available to those who offer one particular experience?

Streaming services certainly do blur the line between film and television. Netflix and others create original material in both fields and make that content available to watch anywhere. The one place it's hardest to watch, however, is the movie theater. Unless you live in Los Angeles or one of the few other places that Netflix movies get screened, you can't watch them on the big screen.

This is an issue that clearly isn't dead. The film industry has gone through massive changes before and it will certainly adjust to these. It's simply a question of how. Netflix certainly isn't going away and considering the company's success with original movies, both in terms of viewership and awards success, it seems like a matter of time before Netflix wins a Best Picture Oscar, unless the Academy decides one day they shouldn't be considered for them.

Chris Rock Is Rebooting The Saw Franchise

Chris Rock Is Rebooting The Saw Franchise

The horror genre is in a bit of a renaissance right now. Rather than stale sequels, there are new exciting properties being brought to theaters. These movies are being met with critical and box office acclaim, with projects like Get Out even getting Oscar attention. But the genre is also built on long-running franchises, and it looks like one of the newer classics is going to be getting a reboot: Saw. What's more, comedian Chris Rock is involved in the developing project.

While Chris Rock isn't a name usually associated with horror, he's going to intimately involved with rebooting the Saw franchise, as both an executive producer and story writer. The gore-heavy property has typically been ultra serious and cruel, Rock's point of view and comedic background should help to bring new life. Liongsgate Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake issued a statement with the announcement of the forthcoming reboot, explaining:

When Chris Rock came to us and described in chilling detail his fantastic vision that reimagines and spins off the world of the notorious Jigsaw Killer, we were all-in. Saw is one of the highest-grossing horror franchises of all time and it’s one of Lionsgate’s most successful film series. This upcoming film will still be as mind bending and intense as all the previous Saw films. Chris conceived this idea and it will be completely reverential to the legacy of the material while reinvigorating the brand with his wit, creative vision and passion for this classic horror franchise.

The Saw franchise hasn't spent much time out of theaters, but it looks like the next installment will be notably different from its predecessors. And it's arriving soon, as the untitled project is set to hit theaters in October of 2020.

This statement from Lionsgate (via Variety) should illicit a mixture of reactions. Obviously fans of the Saw franchise will be thrilled to see more horrifying traps on the silver screen. But Chris Rock might not be the first person that moviegoers associate with the genre, let alone such an infamously gory one. Then again, the Saw films have generally been formulaic, so perhaps a fresh perspective is what the property needs to remain relevant in the midst of the horror renaissance.

Chris Rock also gave a brief statement regarding his excitement for the upcoming Saw reboot, which he'll be producing and helping create the story for. He said:

I’ve been a fan of Saw since the first film in 2004. I am excited by the opportunity to take this to a really intense and twisted new place.

Twisted is right, as the Saw franchise is classified under the sub-genre "torture porn." Movieogers have watched behind their hands as countless characters are massacred in bloody ways, usually in excruciating physical pain. The sub-genre that was made famous through the Saw and Hostel franchises, although the overall horror world seems to be going in a different direction recently.

Related: Chris Rock Has No Interest In Hosting The Oscars Again

If Chris Rock is able to bring something new to the Saw franchise, it could give the property new momentum. To do this, moviegoers going to need more than just the terrifying traps, like character-driven story and some moments of levity. We'll just have to see if Rock can help make this happen.

The Saw reboot will arrive in theaters on October 23, 2020. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

How To Train Your Dragon 3 Flew Past A Box Office Milestone, But There's Trouble From Here

How To Train Your Dragon 3 Flew Past A Box Office Milestone, But There's Trouble From Here

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World had the best opening of the franchise, and it's still doing well so far. Will it be able to make enough to pass the previous two movies, and close out the trilogy on top, now that Captain Marvel is here to push it off the top of the box office chart?

That may be too lofty a goal even for Toothless and Hiccup.

What we do know is that, before Captain Marvel's arrival, How to Train Your Dragon 3 managed to pass the $100 million milestone at the domestic North American box office. That's after opening two weeks ago on February 22, and placing #1 on the weekend box office charts for both of its weeks.

The Hidden World had the best opening of the three films so far, but it dipped enough in its second weekend that it looked like Madea might actually pass it at #1. That didn't happen, but now that competition is getting superheroic, you have to wonder where the film might go from here -- at least at the domestic box office.

Going into its third weekend, How to Train Your Dragon has made $104,966,125 at the domestic box office and an impressive $280,900,000 at the foreign box office for a current worldwide total of $385,866,125. That number, per Box Office Mojo, will go up by the end of the weekend, and should reach past $120 million domestic. How much further can it go from there?

The first How to Train Your Dragon movie came out in 2010 and ended its run with $217,581,231 at the domestic box office. The Hidden World is a long way away from that number. However, that movie "only" made $277,297,528 at the foreign box office, and the third movie has already made more than that overseas.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 came out in 2014 and made a total of $177,002,924 at the domestic box office and $444,534,595 overseas.

It seems like How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is likely to have a domestic box office closer to the second movie's number, below $200 million -- but that's a guess. Overseas? Does it have a chance of passing the second movie's $444.5M at the foreign box office alone? China, the second biggest box office market after North America, gave $65,100,000 to How to Train Your Dragon 2. The third movie opened at the start of March and has made $32,957,995 in China alone so far. However, the film got an early start at dozens of international markets, opening in January in many places. The Hidden World has already made the most money it's going to make in several countries.

So as exciting as it is to see How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World pass $100 million in the U.S./Canada, and prepare to pass $400 million worldwide, I suspect it won't have a chance to pass its predecessors to end the franchise at #1. That's OK, it was just hoped that the record opening would lead to a record close. It's still a big success.

The first movie had a worldwide combined total of $494,878,759. The second movie upped the combined total to $621,537,519. It doesn't seem like The Hidden World has the time or ability to top How to Train Your Dragon 2 from its current worldwide total of $385,866,125 (not counting this weekend, which should add about $20M domestic). But we'll see. I'm open to being as surprised by this movie as I was by the billion dollar success of Aquaman, the love China has for Green Book, and the continued power of The Upside.

Whatever happens from here, the Dragon franchise is ending strong. All three films earned "A" CinemaScores from polled moviegoers. All of the films have Rotten Tomatoes fresh scores above 90%, with the first film earning an Audience Score of 91% and the second and third films both currently at 89%. There was even early talk that How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World might finally have a chance at that animation Oscar, but we'll see. There's a lot of competition ahead.

Speaking of competition, this weekend belongs to Captain Marvel, which had a huge opening night and is tracking at $155 million to $160 million. Check out CinemaBlend's full weekend box office report on Sunday for those details. And keep up with everything headed to theaters in 2019 with our handy movie release date schedule.

The X-Men Character Karen Gillan Most Wants To See In The MCU

The X-Men Character Karen Gillan Most Wants To See In The MCU

Now that Fox is part of Disney, the X-Men will eventually be joining the Marvel Studios family for future movies. Kevin Feige sounded excited about the X-Men coming home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although there's no set timeline for when that will happen.

For now, the current X-Men film franchise is ending with Dark Phoenix this summer, not quite two months after the premiere of the MCU's Avengers: Endgame. One of those Endgame stars is Karen Gillan, who said before Avengers 4 opened that her Nebula would be someone fans would root for.

Karen Gillan was asked which X-Men character she would most like to see join the MCU, and her answer came immediately:

Mystique! So that we can talk about having blue prosthetics on all the time.

Hey, from her perspective, the priority is having someone who can empathize with that awful blue makeup experience! (Cast David Cross too, so he can blue himself like Tobias on Arrested Development.)

The X-Men character of Mystique (Raven Darkhölme) is known for her bright red hair and blue skin. Rebecca Romijn endured the Mystique process for X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand, with Jennifer Lawrence playing the younger version of Raven in X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and this summer's Dark Phoenix.

Jennifer Lawrence has talked about tiring of the toxic fumes from the blue body paint she had to wear as Mystique. Karen Gillan told Variety Lawrence's experience actually made her feel better about her own less arduous process to become Nebula:

I truthfully would watch the behind-the-scenes videos of her getting her makeup done while I was getting my makeup done to make me feel like it wasn’t so bad. I was like 'Well, look at what she went through! This is only from the neck up.' It's just a feeling of like claustrophobia ... because I'm completely enclosed, it's a second skin that's glued to me, it's not painted. It's like a skin, and it's all over. So I can't really move my face very much. It's a weird sensation. It’s one that isn’t the nicest of sensations, but it does look really cool and it does help with the character. … I think it’s keeping me from overacting!

Considering Jennifer Lawrence's distaste for the Mystique process -- not to mention the trailer for X-Men: Dark Phoenix already including that major Mystique spoiler -- it seems safe to say Lawrence will not be back as Mystique if and when the character is brought to the MCU. But the character could easily be rebooted again for the new version of whatever Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and company have planned for Phase ... 5?

As we wait for X-Men + MCU updates, check out Endgame in theaters now (you probably already have), watch Dark Phoenix on June 7, and don't forget that Karen Gillan will be back for the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel, currently called Jumanji 3, on December 13. Keep up with all of the release dates with our 2019 calendar.

6 Incredibly Easy Ways To Avoid Avengers: Endgame Spoilers

6 Incredibly Easy Ways To Avoid Avengers: Endgame Spoilers

We're officially in the "endgame" for Avengers: Endgame's premiere, and spoilers are only going to ramp up in intensity throughout the web from this second on. This makes the Internet a dangerous place to navigate for those wishing to avoid learning anything before the movie's airing, and may encourage some to walk away from the medium entirely ahead of their showing.

That's all well and good, but this is the 21st century. Many of us utilize the internet daily for work and entertainment purposes, and shouldn't have to put our lives on hold out of fear of Avengers: Endgame spoilers. With that said, here are some really easy ways to avoid seeing spoilers while still circumnavigating the web, as written by a guy who learned these lessons the hard way and had Avengers: Infinity War spoiled via a Frasier meme.

Mute Key Phrases From Your Twitter Timeline

Twitter has a really handy feature that all social media should have, which automatically filters and hides any tweets that contain a list of words you've chosen to mute. Twitter users, visit settings and content preferences to find the mute function. Once there, put in the names of the Avengers, "Avengers: Endgame," "Avengers," "Endgame" and as many variations as possible until the home timeline is devoid of any mentions of the movie.

As a note, be sure to change the setting to "anyone," as the default will only hide stuff from people users don't follow. Also don't forget to set a timer for it to expire, or risk mass confusion weeks later when absolutely no one is discussing Endgame despite box office numbers surging to tremendous heights.

Avoid Comment Sections

Comment sections can be a great place to discuss stuff with like-minded people on the internet, but they're also a breeding ground for spoilers. Whether intentional or not, browsing the comments section for people's comments is just asking to get smacked in the face with a key reveal on how The Avengers stop Thanos, or confirmation that Ant Man ain't going anywhere near the villain's backside. Sure, we could've assumed that anyway, but why ruin the dream?

Let's also remember that trolls will be out in full force, and there is probably going to be some popularized tactic that the worst of the worst use to put one of the biggest spoilers out on as many platforms as possible. These folks may even be posting on stories unrelated to the movie, just to catch people off guard. Long story short, just stay away from the comments, and also be respectful of what you comment after viewing.

Don't Read Usernames

When Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out -- and spoilers -- there seemed to be a concerted effort to expose fans via one method. For those who didn't fall victim to it, a slew of users took to comment sections and places like Reddit with some variation of the username Handies, which didn't immediately make sense. Of course, people slowly realized that "Handies" was actually Han dies, and one of the most heart-breaking twists of the sequel trilogy was spoiled.

Make no mistake, something like that will happen again. It's too easy not to, and trolls know they can rope a ton of people in relatively easy by posting seemingly innocent comments with the actual spoilers hiding above in wait for unsuspecting eyes. Obviously, folks should be avoiding comment sections already, but for those that can't help themselves, at least try to avoid reading the names of people's comments.

Don't Go Looking For Content That Potentially Reveals Spoilers

This seems like a no-brainer, although anyone who's been on the Internet has seen those readers who are taken aback and appalled they read a spoiler despite the warnings on articles and in headlines revealing spoilers are ahead. In short, reading speculative articles about the movie and what will happen at this point is a bad idea. There are many people who already know what happens, and you might actually read that in searching.

Even reviews can be dicey. Ours, of course, is spoiler free, and so are a handful of others on reputable and well-known sites. Make no mistake, there are more spoiler heavy reviews out there, and they can drop some rather big details unexpectedly. It's simple really. Avoid content that may reveal a spoiler, and drastically lessen the chance that a spoiler will unexpectedly surface.

Warn Friends And Family Ahead Of Time

By now, many of us are aware of the habitual "Spoilees" in our lives. Whenever there's a big movie that's out, they just can't help themselves and have to talk about the movie regardless of whether or not everyone around them has seen it or not. We love them anyway, but damn if they wouldn't catch hands if the bond we share with them wasn't so strong.

Ideally, it's best to get to the theater before these people and eliminate any chance of falling victim to their spoilery ways. If that's not possible, just kindly remind them ahead of time not to talk to you about the movie before you've seen it. If they're not monsters, they'll respect that. If they do it anyway, at least the warning gives you a valid reason to slap them upside their head.

Beware YouTube Suggestions

YouTube is a great way to kill time during the day, but it's going to be very risky to venture in the coming weeks. YouTubers gotta eat too, and that sweet Avengers: Endgame analysis is going to pay some bills for a couple high profile people on the platform. These folks will probably be respectful of spoilers, and keep things clean, but that won't stop YouTube from suggesting and auto-playing a full spoilers video right after.

Don't blame the YouTuber, blame the algorithm. Or blame both, but also blame yourself because this is also a form of looking for content on Avengers: Endgame, and then being upset when the Internet grants that wish. Just disable autoplay, however, and that should solve the problem of unintentionally starting a video. As for the rest, just be wary of looking at the titles of related videos and suggested ones that pop up after you watch something.

Avengers: Endgame spoilers will almost certainly ramp up in intensity beginning Thursday evening, so be sure to grab a ticket and see it before the major beats are all over the web. Also, stick with CinemaBlend for the latest news regarding movies, television, and pop culture.