Initially Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War started out as a huge two-part movie event. This epic story initially intending to close out Phase 4 of the MCU.
Initially, the two films were simply named Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2 respectively, and were to be filmed simultaneously across 2017 and 2018. Initial reports claimed for the project to be the largest multi-film production ever, outdoing Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3, as well as The Hobbit trilogy. Some sources even claimed that the budget for both films would be a billion dollars (utter rubbish, but interesting how so many news sites ran with the story).
But then it was announced that the films were not going to be Parts 1 and 2 of a single story as such, and that the third Avengers would keep the Infinity War name, but that the fourth one would be called something completely different. However, reports maintained that it was still to be a simultaneous production between the two films.
Now it seems to be the case, according to Kevin Feige, that the two films are no longer being made simultaneously, but instead are to be made back-to-back.
In an interview with Collider, he stated that:
“We’re doing them one right after another… It became too complicated to cross-board them like that, and we found ourselves—again, something would always pay the price. We wanted to be able to focus and shoot one movie and then focus and shoot another movie.”
As a creative decision, this makes sense, it helps the cast and crew keep focused on a single story at a time, and will more likely help improve the final product.
Something that may surprise a few fans, also, is that Feige said Phase 4 isn’t a guaranteed thing:
“We’ve been lucky that [contract expirations] haven’t factored in too much. We’ve had people under contract for certain films, then we’ve had new ideas and new directions like Civil War like we wanted to do, and we’ve been lucky enough to make new contracts. Or Spider-Man: Homecoming, the cast has been awesome in their enthusiasm for the direction and the storylines that we’ve been telling. So it really does, right now, all start with where we wanna take the stories. Certainly as we get to Infinity War there is a sense of a climax if not a conclusion to, by the time we’re at untitled Avengers 4, the 22 movies that will have encompassed the first three phases of the MCU. And what happens after that will be very different. I don’t know if it’s Phase 4, it might be a new thing.”
Source: Collider
What do you guys think of this change to the production of Avengers 3 and 4? Will it help or hinder the film? Sound off in the comments below!