By Christopher Skalicky
Hey Schmoeville!
It looks like the highly anticipated sequel to 2012’s mega-hit The Avengers, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, wasn’t quite badass enough so some re-assembly was required. Reshoots for Age of Ultron are scheduled for early next year in London.
The Daily Mail is reporting that Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Paul Bettany (The Vision), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) have all been asked to make themselves available over a two-week period in January to film additional scenes at Pinewood Studios. All of these stars may not be required for reshoots, but Joss Whedon and the film’s producers had to send out an early notice in order to ensure that the actors would be around if needed.
Noticeably absent from the list is Chris Evans (Captain America). I don’t think that necessarily means anything. I think that either his name just wasn’t on this list or the scenes they are looking to work on don’t include his character or they think that all of his scenes are fine the way they are. Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are also absent from the list.
Some may see the word “reshoots” and think “uh-oh”, but reshoots or pickups on a movie like this doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. This is going to be a massive film and you want to make sure everything fits in perfectly and delivers the moments that the filmmakers are trying to achieve. Not only that, they are telling a much larger story over at Marvel so some of these scenes may be to help better tie in future properties down the road.
The Lord of the Rings films were constantly doing reshoots and pickups to fix issues or add new scenes to help the story, and look at how those films turned out. Incredible! Sometimes you wouldn’t know you needed reshoots until you started putting the film together and you would notice certain things that you needed to address. Marvel knows what they are doing. They have proven it time and time again, so if you have to schedule some reshoots to deliver the best film then go for it.
The Daily Mail also dropped in a mention that Avengers 3 and 4 (Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2) will shoot back to back later next year, most likely at Pinewood Studios in the UK.
I find this more interesting than the news of the reshoots. Not that the film is shooting back to back as that has become the norm for shooting multi-part, big budget films, but that they will be starting that early. Avengers 2 began filming in February 2014; roughly 14-15 months before the film was set to release. Even if Infinity War starts filming in late 2015 that’s still two and half years until Part 1 is set for release. That’s really early compared to past Marvel films, however, the more that I think about it the more it makes sense. Starting next year Captain America: Civil War will begin filming so you will already have Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. around and in the mindset of their respective characters. Assuming Doctor Strange will appear in Infinity War, it will also probably begin production sometime late next year.
Then you have Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther with 2017 release dates that will probably begin production sometime in 2016. Not only will you have all of these actors available and in the midst of inhabiting their characters for their respective films, the crew will be there as well working on all of these films. With a majority of your cast and crew already in the studio and production in full swing why not start on production on Avengers 3 and 4. Plus, by starting this early there should be plenty of time to perfect scenes, get those visual effects shots just right, plan accordingly for any reshoots and make any adjustments to the story.
I don’t know about you Schmoeville, but I’m just ready to see these films! May 1st cannot come soon enough! I am so ready for Avengers: Age of Ultron.
What do you think Schmoeville? Do the reshoots have you worried at all? Or is that just part of these big films? What about Infinity War potentially starting production next year? Is that too early? Will we be teased with spy photos and leaks for 2-3 years before the film? I hope not. There are too many other Marvel films to look forward to between now and then. Comment below. Like and share with your friends. Let’s talk some AVENGERS!
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