The long wait for Avengers: Endgame is almost over, and if its test audiences are any indication, it’ll be well worth it.
In a recent conversation with BoxOfficePro.com, co-director Joe Russo revealed that the final film in the Infinity Saga has scored perhaps the best reception of any MCU film to date, which, of course, is no small feat.
Like all tentpole films, each new MCU entry is put through a gauntlet of test audiences before it hits your local multiplex. Russo explained that these screenings are often used to fine-tune certain scenes, tweak certain elements of the plot, or streamline the narrative.
“We try to create a density in storytelling that makes [each film] feel compulsive. We’re very rigorous about storytelling points, and we spend months in the edit room twisting and turning the narrative a bunch of different ways until we think we’ve unlocked the best one. We’re vigilant about using test audiences to tell us whether we’re on the right track or we’re making bad decisions. With Endgame, it had one of the most incredible audience responses in Marvel history. Irrespective of the length, it’s been consistently embraced by the test audiences.”
To put that in perspective, consider that MCU flicks tend to fare very well with these audiences in general, and more than one recent entry has completely blown crowds away at early screenings. Captain Marvel, for example, was heralded as one of the best films in the entirety of the MCU, while 2017’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 received a perfect score of 100 from its test audiences, which is virtually unheard of.
It goes without saying that expectations are sky high for Endgame, which will put a cap on an overarching narrative spanning eleven years, 22 films, and dozens of individual character arcs. Yet, at least as far as test audiences are concerned, it seems to have more than met those expectations.
So how did brothers Joe and Anthony Russo manage such a massively complex undertaking? It turns out their entire careers have prepared them for this moment. Not only have they already helmed three of the MCU’s most challenging ensembles with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War, but prior to joining Marvel, they earned a reputation for deftly weaving complicated storylines on the cult classic sitcoms Arrested Development and Community.
Joe Russo told BoxOfficePro,
“We spent a decade squeezing complex comedy stories with many, many characters, both of those shows being big ensemble shows, into 21 minutes. We’d call it ‘the Russo path,’ where we came in and squeezed it down to a density that we felt would elevate the show, because it would move so quickly that you’d miss half the jokes and have to watch it again. That was an agenda of ours. The same thing is true when we work on these Marvel films.”
It’s a method that has worked out pretty well for the filmmaking pair. But while it’s been speculated that Endgame could constitute their MCU swan song, Russo isn’t ready to make that call just yet.
It goes without saying that fans across the board would love to see the Russos continue on in the MCU, but if they end up departing after Endgame, it looks like they’ll be going out with a bang.
And in case the rapturous reception from test audiences isn’t enough to convince you, consider the reaction of Captain America himself. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the star was nearly at a loss for words when asked to describe his Endgame viewing experience. Keep watching the video to see the rest of The Endgame test audience responses are stunning everyone who hears them!
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