'Avengers: Infinity War' will hit theaters sooner than we thought
Our return trip to Wakanda is happening just a little bit earlier than expected.
Marvel Studios announced today that Avengers: Infinity War will burst into theaters Apr. 27 – one full week earlier than the previously announced May 4 release date.
According to the official Avengers Twitter account, we've got Robert Downey Jr., a.k.a. Tony Stark, to thank for that.
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It's a cute exchange – click through to read the whole conversation, if you're into that sort of thing – but in truth, it's more likely that Han Solo and Deadpool are to thank for this change.
While Disney hasn't said why, exactly, they've shifted the Avengers: Infinity War release date, it probably has something to do with the very crowded May calendar.
Had Infinity War stuck with May 4, it'd have just two weeks to rule the box office before Deadpool 2 came along to try and topple it on May 18 – which itself would have only one week as the multiplex's newest blockbuster hero before Solo: A Star Wars Story dropped May 25.
Better to move Infinity War up a weekend, giving both it and Solo some room to breathe. In late April, Infinity War's stiffest competition is ... what, Rampage? Super Troopers 2? Those films might do well, but it's unlikely either of them is going to give the Avengers a run for their money.
And it's not like Marvel fans are going to complain about getting to see the movie a few days early – especially when Black Panther box office returns continue to prove that audiences just can't get enough of Wakanda and the universe around it.
In the past, May was seen as the start of the summer movie season. However, as the summers get more and more crowded, these four-quadrant blockbusters have started to push earlier and earlier.
Just last year, The Fate of the Furious served as the unofficial kickoff when it opened Apr. 14, 2017. The year before that, Disney's own Jungle Book found smashing success on Apr. 15, 2017.
Even so, April's rarely been as crowded as May – until now. This year, it's just Infinity War creeping into those late April days ... but if Marvel proves it's a viable weekend, as it almost undoubtedly will, we might see April get bigger and bigger titles over the next few years.
Because look – if anyone can bend the unofficial parameters of the summer movie season to their whims, it's definitely the franchise that's in possession of their own freaking Time Stone.
