Ouch. I know word of mouth on this movie isn't great (personally, I think it's about as good as any of the other Marvel movies) but I think part of the drop can be attributed to superhero fatigue finally starting to set in with the general public. Guardians Of The Galaxy will still be huge but...
Were there really any larger number of dodgier effects shots than what you see in literally every other blockbuster today? The quantum realm looked like it was lit with two candles but that was so they didn't have to have to spend $400 million for effects.
Yeah, that's the standard for me too. I stay for the credits on all movies because I'm a nerd :) but it seems like a shocking number of people now stay for the credits for every big budget movie or sequel expecting an end credit scene and they always seem surprised when there rarely is one...
I think Disney is hoping that Avatar brings a resurgence in 3D. Also, I'm sure they saw those millions of extra dollars from 3D and would love for that to continue. (I don't even mean that in a really negative way either. They're a business and want to make money.)
Spock is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. It was a great and moving death but then it was just undone in the next movie. I get why they undid it (who wants to see the original Star Trek characters without Spock?) but it retroactively lessens the importance of a great scene.
You...
And I even get it, there's a big segment of the audience that doesn't want to see beloved characters die (I wouldn't want to see Spider-Man or Superman be permanently dead) but at the same time, I can't blame people like myself who grew fatigued with that kind of 'endless' story.
Unfortunately, I think that is exactly how Marvel (and DC) treat the characters in their comic books- they are all stuck in perpetual second acts. That's why their comics are so boring because there's decades of stories with no real stakes since the audience always knows that the companies don't...
I can only imagine that these movies are so complex that BP2 is completely storyboarded so they know exactly what CG they need and that's moving forward full steam ahead. At that point, they can just plug in the live-action stuff when they can shoot it.