The Avengers 4 will begin filming in two weeks, co-director Joe Russo confirmed at this past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con. And in many ways, Marvel’s current schedule/plan for their next two Avengers films has become shrouded in much more mystery than it was originally when the films were set to be called Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Part 2, and were set to be filmed simultaneously with no breaks for a whole year. But then, Marvel went ahead and turned Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 into the Untitled Avengers 4 last year, much to the confusion of Marvel fans everywhere.
Now, the Russo Brothers have come out and said the next two Avengers titles will be very different films, an idea that clashed with the original Part 1 and Part 2 titles, which led to the change. But the production schedule for the two projects has only become that much more unknown, with principal photography on Avengers: Infinity War wrapped just a little over a week ago, leading many to wonder what Marvel and the Russos’ plan is for filming and completing The Avengers 4.
While recently speaking with ComicBook.com, however, Joe Russo revealed that the production schedule for the two Avengers films is similar to what fans had originally expected, with principal photography on Avengers 4 set to begin in two weeks, leaving just a little less than a month break in between the filming schedules for the two films:
It’s crazy man, we just wrapped the first movie a week ago and I start shooting the second one in two weeks. It’s a crazy schedule.
In addition, Russo further reiterates just how much he and his brother, Anthony Russo, have worked with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to make sure the two Avengers films feel as different from each other as possible:
This confirmation for the Avengers 4 schedule further reinforces a fact that comic book fans and industry insiders have already been aware of for over a year now, which is that Marvel is embarking on a production schedule for these two films the likes of which Hollywood has rarely seen before. Only films like Peter Jackson’s original Lord of the Rings trilogy have been filmed quite in this way and on this scale, and even then, Infinity War looks to give the battle sequences in those films a run for their money, especially when Josh Brolin’s Thanos acquires the ability to bend reality however he wants.They’re all big. It’s important for both movies to be distinctly different. It’s important for them to have different tones, and different narratives, and different surprises for the audience. We’ve worked really hard with [writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley] at ensuring that the films are tonally different and structurally different.
Russo’s comments here do come as a bit of a surprise, though, since Josh Brolin very recently came out and said that the script for Avengers 4 might not even be completed yet. This means either Brolin was wrong, or work will begin on the next film without a script even completely set for it, but either way, there’s no denying just how much Marvel will have to balance by shooting both of these films under such a pressured time frame. And if the Russo Brothers and the studio manage to deliver two satisfying, high-quality blockbusters back-to-back – even with this kind of an overwhelming production schedule – then Avengers 3 and Avengers 4 could very well go down as the studio’s greatest cinematic triumphs.
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