'Avengers: Infinity War' boasts more than 20 superheroes and expects to storm the box office, but even its A-list cast didn't know quite what to expect when the film got its world premiere last night.
Secrecy was key during filming on the Walt Disney Co. movie, which brings together almost every comic-book hero in Marvel's cinematic universe for an all-out battle with supervillain Thanos.
Most of the actors were given scripts for only the scenes they were filming, or given complete scripts that turned out to be fake, in order to prevent spoilers - particularly which characters may get killed off - from leaking out.
The cast did not get to see the finished product until the world premiere in Los Angeles.
"I kind of like that," said Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Dr. Strange. "I like that we'll be sitting in our own audience ... it's just going to be a thrill to watch it for the first time. I'm genuinely really, really excited."
With outsize heroes, including Captain America, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Widow, Black Panther and the Guardians of the Galaxy, comes massive fan appeal.
Analysts say the film could come close to, or even break, the $248 million North American box-office opening set in 2015 by 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens,' also from Disney.
Barton Crockett, media industry analyst at B. Riley FBR, predicted a $238 million debut for the film, which would make it the biggest opening this year.
The narrative seeds of 'Infinity War' have been scattered through the Marvel cinematic universe franchise of crossover characters and plots since 2008's 'Iron-Man'.
"The theory that Marvel had when they started to make movies was that these movies would be promotional platforms for each other, stories that would continue to pull people along,” Crockett said.
'Infinity War,' directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, sees despot Thanos (Josh Brolin) fight the Avengers and their allies for all six of the legendary Infinity Stones that give the user specific powers to manipulate other people, objects or forms of energy.
"Thanos is a very interesting character because his agenda is to save the universe by destroying the universe," said Tom Holland, who plays Spider-Man.
"It's something we haven't seen before and a lot of the movie is seen through his eyes."
Speculation has been rife about which characters may die but the directors declined to give details.
'Avengers: Infinity War' starts its international rollout on Wednesday and arrives in U.S. movie theaters on Friday.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Even though there is sometime before the detailed reviews are out, but the initial reactions are largely positive.
Many took to Twitter to praise the narrative and the entertainment factor of the movie.
Here are some of the tweets:
Wow! Marvel dropped all the rules, fists out and what a tornado!! #AvengersInfinityWar was a blast and Thanos just dethroned Killmonger as the champion of villains.
— Kristian Harloff (@KristianHarloff) April 24, 2018
This will set standards on juggling multiple characters & storylines. So fluid and beautifully executed. Inspired filmmaking that flew by.
— Kevin McCarthy (@KevinMcCarthyTV) April 24, 2018
No exaggeration, the film felt like it lasted less than an hour.
The performance-capture on Brolin is incredible. You feel every emotion. pic.twitter.com/OVQ7cuqZNM
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR has like ten legit "chill down the spine" great moments. But it's for sure the first half of a two part movie and I left a little unsatisfied/frustrated, maybe by design ... at least that's how I feel right now three hours later.
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryan) April 24, 2018
Infinity War is great. Very solid and fans will love it. My one issue is that there is almost TOO much going on and you can feel the weight of so many characters. Still handled as well as it possibly could have been. Top notch job. Very entertaining. Thanos IS the main character
— John Campea (@johncampea) April 24, 2018
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