After a splurge of encouraging first reactions from the LA premiere last night, Avengers: Endgame remains on track to be the movie event of the year.
The critics’ verdicts will start coming out from 11pm tonight (UK time), after which the Rotten Tomatoes score will calculate what percentage of the feedback is positive.
So can Endgame possibly meet its high bar of expectation?
Let’s take an educated guess at what its score will be.
Marvel has exceptional form with critics, and has been credited with bringing acclaim to a genre that was previously often derided.
Its Rotten Tomatoes scores across the Infinity Saga thus far peak at 97% for last year’s Black Panther, and only two films – The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World – come in below 70% (67% for those mis-steps).
What’s also interesting is that, when you plot all the movies and their Rotten Tomatoes score onto a good old-fashioned line graph, the trend line is going in an upward direction – even though the last three films in the repertoire (Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel) fall slightly below it.
If we use the red trend line in the graph below to take an educated guess at Endgame’s score, it will be 90%.
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It’s certainly worth noting that the Russo Brothers, directing an MCU effort for the fourth time, have cracking form.
Of their past three Marvel films, Captain America: The Winter Soldier has 90%, Captain America: Civil War has 91% and Avengers: Infinity War has 85%.
Given their knack for delivering good results for the studio, it seems that 90% estimate for Endgame could be legit.
And the first reactions from last night’s Endgame premiere in LA also hint at a total smash.
Kevin McCarthy tweeted: “The scope of Avengers: Endgame is impossible to put into words. What Fiege & MCU achieved over last 10-years has lead to this gloriously masterful moment in cinema & it’s truly mind-blowing how beautifully paced this storytelling is. Perfectly balanced. As all things should be.”
ScreenRant’s Rob Keyes posted: “Just watched Avengers: Endgame. I don’t believe hyperbole is possible for this movie. It is the ultimate Marvel movie in every way possible and words cannot describe how epic it is. And yes, Hawkeye is a rockstar.”
And Brandon Davis said: “While watching #AvengersEndgame, I laughed so loud, I clapped with so much force, and I cried so hard. The movie exceeds every expectation and is the perfect culmination of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
Collider’s Perri Nemiroff reasoned: “#AvengersEndgame is A LOT. Too much at times. But wow the payoff is huge. Left me proud to have invested over a decade in a franchise that delivers an inspiring exploration of what it means to be family & a hero. (Endgame also now has one of my favorite shots in the entire MCU.).”
So here we go: our estimate for Avengers: Endgame’s Rotten Tomatoes score is 90%. Let’s see if we’re right.
Avengers: Endgame is out on Thursday.