A soldier in South Korea was arrested for leaving his squad to check out Avengers: Endgame. The newest entry in the MCU has made almost $2.2 billion globally since its April 26th release. Nationwide, it's now the 9th highest-grossing movie of all time, behind such films as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avatar, and Black Panther. Worldwide, it ranks second, trailing only Avatar. The film achieved its second place finish this weekend when it surpassed Titanic, which now rests at number three. These records come without adjusting for inflation, but it's still an impressive showing.
Strangely enough, one of the directors of Avengers: Endgame, Anthony Russo, admitted to being a little bummed about the impressive box office haul, explaining that people were talking about that instead of other aspects of the film. This makes sense, as there are a lot of other things that could be discussed as well, from the Marvel Universe's first openly gay character to the fates of the six original Avengers. With so many characters and storylines featured in the film, it's no surprise that Russo hopes filmgoers will focus on those things instead of how much money the movie makes. Though, its strong showing at the box office is one of the best indicators of how much audiences care about the film.
Per South Korea's WowTV (via CBR), the Republic of Korea Air Force soldier left his squad so he could see the new movie, going AWOL in the process. At the time, his team was supposed to be taking part in public services, and he slipped away during a lull in the action. The man's taxi driver helped locate him, leading to his arrest upon exiting the theater. The soldier admitted to leaving his squad and is now under investigation.
Since the release of Avengers: Endgame, there have been several incidents involving theater-goers. Most have been attacks over spoilers, such as one in Hong Kong where a man was reportedly beaten up outside of a theater after discussing the movie's plot in detail. There was a similar issue here in the U.S. when a Domino's employee assaulted his co-worker for sharing a spoiler. Obviously the hype for the movie has been unprecedented, but not worth many of the incidents it's contributed to.
Hopefully now that the film's spoiler ban has been lifted, there will be fewer events like this one. At this point, the majority of die hard fans have already seen the movie once and may even be going back for repeat viewings. Many audience members that are just seeing it now have either accepted that they may hear spoilers or genuinely don't care if they do. The need to see Avengers: Endgame as soon as possible decreases each day, though the box office numbers prove it's not slowing down anytime soon.
