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Rather than make audiences wait three years in between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the folks over at Marvel Studios decided to shoot both movies back-to-back so that fans could find out how Infinity War’s shocking ending would be followed up on just a year later. But if you think that means that Marvel is going to make these gigantic back-to-back shoots a habit, you have another thing coming.
When I recently interviewed Avengers: Endgame executive producer Trinh Tran and asked if there’s anything she would have done differently in the whole Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame process, this was her response:
Well, we definitely don’t want to shoot two big movies back-to-back ever again (laughs). That was something that we thought was a really great idea at the time and made the most sense logically because it was just easy because we had all our talents together. But because we were so massive in terms of the amount of people we had and the scale of the movie, it would have been nice to just focus on one movie at a time. But yeah, that would be the one thing.
It’s hard enough to shoot one movie, let alone one as packed as an Avengers flick, but to say shooting two of these one after the other is difficult would be an understatement. As Trinh Tran pointed out, it made sense scheduling-wise to take this approach with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, rather than having to figure out separate schedules for all the actors, crew members and other people involved. The downside was that it was even more daunting ensuring that both projects were receiving enough attention due to so many moving pieces.
When I pointed out that I was thankful we didn’t have to wait another three years for Avengers: Endgame to arrive (if that’d been the case, we’d be watching it in 2021), Trinh Tran agreed that on a creative level, everything worked out, but also noted how multitasking became key. In her words:
Well in that sense, it all worked out because then we were all able to just release one and the next one right away, and it felt like a continuous flow. So on a creative level, I definitely am very happy with the product we had created. It was just the behind-the-scenes of everything else that was pretty hard to get through… We were filming Endgame and posting Infinity War and re-shooting Infinity War all at the same time.
Trina Tran isn’t the only Marvel bigwig who regrets shooting Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame back-to-back. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo explained earlier this year how it was difficult for them to find a balance between the two movies, and welcomed “opportunities in the process to separate the two” so that their brains could "be fully focused on the narrative.”
Since there aren’t any immediate plans to deliver another Infinity Saga-level story in the MCU, the franchise’s leadership needn’t about planning any back-to-back shoots even if they wanted to. But conversely, that means if more Avengers movies are put into development, fans will have to get used to a more traditional two-four year-long waiting period. What happened with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame was a special exception.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for all the latest updates concerning the MCU, and don’t forget to look through our Marvel movies guide to learn what’s coming in Phase 4 and beyond. Avengers: Endgame is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD.
