25 Things We Learned From The Avengers: Infinity War Blu-Ray Special Features

The Infinity War Blu-ray has arrived.

The Avengers: Infinity War home release date is upon us. That means we can finally relive the pain and horror of Infinity War’s bleak, tragic ending on repeat in the comfort of our own living rooms if we want. More importantly, it also means we get to dig into the movie’s special features.

The Avengers: Infinity War Blu-ray, which is out August 14, comes with four featurettes: one focusing on the chemistry among all the characters, one focused on Thanos himself, and one each for both of the major battles in the movie (Titan and Wakanda). They come with a handful of deleted scenes, which include both a surprising MCU cameo that was cut from the movie and the second half of a scene that explains how the Guardians knew to head to Titan.

On Infinity War’s digital release, which is out today, you can also find a special exclusive featurette called the director’s roundtable. In it, MCU movie directors Jon Favreau, Joe and Anthony Russo, Ryan Coogler, James Gunn, Peyton Reed, Joss Whedon, and Taika Waititi sit down for an extended chat about how their separate visions and talents have come together to form the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

All these Infinity War special features form a fun and informative watch, so we put together this highlights list of our favorite things we learned. When you’re done, don’t forget to refresh yourself on what Infinity War’s after credits scene means for the MCU’s future, including the upcoming Captain Marvel.

1. There are around 2900 visual effects shots in Avengers: Infinity War.

According to executive producer Victoria Alonso. That’s out of 3,000 total shots–so only 100 shots in the whole movie didn’t rely on CGI.

2. Making Civil War the lead-up to Infinity War was extremely deliberate.

“Part of the reason why we were drawn to tell the story of Civil War and one of the reasons why we thought it was such a great place to leave the Avengers, divided, was because we knew that the greatest threat they would ever face would be coming in Thanos,” says co-director Anthony Russo. “For storytellers, you want your heroes to be at their lowest point when they meet their worst threat.”

3. The Titan battle was shot entirely on a soundstage.

4. Executive producer Victoria Alonso calls Infinity War “one big CG scene.”

“The environment is CG, the weapons are CG, every shot is dense in layers.”

5. Josh Brolin performed all the motion and performance capture for Thanos himself.

6. The showdown between Dr. Strange and Thanos was rendered and animated before Benedict Cumberbatch gave his performanc

This allowed the other departments to work on the scene’s effects long before Cumberbatch shot his lines on a green screen.

7. The Wakanda battle was one of the most challenging thing the Russos have ever shot.

“Probably the most physically challenging thing that we’ve ever done was execute that Wakanda sequence,” Anthony Russo says.

8. The Wakanda battle was shot on a physical location.

“It was a big ranch in Georgia that we turned into the fields of Wakanda,” Anthony Russo says. The river running through the field was artificially dug for the movie and used a pump capable of churning through 30,000 gallons of water per minute.

9. The Russos coordinated with Black Panther director Ryan Coogler about Wakanda’s geography.

“We actually had to work in tandem with Ryan Coogler. He and his team had maps of Wakanda and that was very helpful to us so that we could look at where we wanted to place the battle, understand strategy, so it’s literally like doing a Jenga puzzle,” Joe Russo says.

10. The Wakandan army included 70 extras on set, plus stunt people.

Their numbers were digitally expanded, and 10,000 “Outriders,” Thanos’s creatures, were added as well.

11. Rain was a big problem during filming in Georgia.

They would try to shoot actors’ close-ups on rainy days, and hope the sun would come out the next.

12. The Russos thought hard about who would go in the snap.

“In terms of our choices about who Thanos would end up eradicating with his snap, you know, it was very story-focused. How do we pay off each individual character’s storyline most profoundly?” Anthony Russo says. “The first person to go is Bucky Barnes, and it’s shot from Captain America’s perspective. We’re watching Cap go through the experience of watching him go away. We’re watching Okoye, whose number one mission it is in life to protect the king, she watches the king go in front of her. And to see those characters react in those situations is very powerful and resonant.”

13. The filmmakers refer to the snap as “the bloodbath sequence.”

Executive producer Trinh Tran throws the phrase in casually during the Wakanda battle featurette.

14. Many of the actors involved didn’t know it was happening.

“The bloodbath sequence, we had gathered the whole entire talent there circled around our directors, and basically revealed to them that morning of when they came on set, that that scene was happening, that some of them were gonna be, you know, disappearing,” says Tran.

15. Infinity War’s production included 6,000 crew members spread around the world.

“It’s about as massive a production as you can mount,” says Joe Russo.

16. There’s a deleted scene in which the Guardians receive several encoded messages from Nebula.

She warns them that Thanos is taking Gamora to Titan, which is how the Guardians know to go there, and why they’re on Titan when Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man show up.

17. There’s another deleted scene where Happy Hogan shows up in New York.

It’s an extended version of the early scene between Tony Stark and Pepper, where Happy shows up and berates them about their upcoming nuptials. It honestly doesn’t fit the tone of the movie.

18. Jon Favreau says he was hired to direct Iron Man because of Elf.

“What really hit was Elf, because Elf made money, and I was sort of like on a list of directors that were hirable,” Favreau says in the director’s roundtable feature.

19. The Russo brothers were “most impressed” by the first 10 minutes of the original Iron Man.

“That’s a ballsy interpretation of a narcissist, who’s presented as a drunk and a jerk. And this is the guy that I’m supposed to get on board with, who goes on this amazing journey throughout the course of the movie, and I do get on board with him. And I think that that was unique,” Joe Russo says.

20. Taika Waititi couldn’t join for the directors roundtable so they propped an iPad over a Hawaiian shirt with a hat on

This is amazing.

21. The Avengers’ post-credits shawarma scene was born from a joke.

“I made a joke about, ‘We should see them all eating shawarma for 30 seconds,’ and then two months later [Kevin Feige] is like, ‘I think we can do it,'” says Avengers director Joss Whedon.

22. They shot the shawarma scene after the movie had already premiered.

To Jon Favreau’s amazement, Whedon admits they shot that scene after the movie had premiered already. “It did not go out in Europe because we didn’t have time. It was during, while we were doing press, after the premiere, at the hotel. There was a shawarma place like three blocks away. We got everybody in there,” Whedon says. They had to cover Chris Evans’ beard (likely for filming Snowpiercer) with a prosthetic, which he blocked with his hand during the scene.

23. James Gunn wrote one of Guardians’ favorite scenes in response to a note from Joss Whedon.

“Joss, you were the hugest influence on me, because I turned in my first draft of the screenplay [for Guardians of the Galaxy], and I was really afraid, because I felt good about it, but I actually thought it was too funny,” Gunn says. “And the thing you said to me…was, ‘Just make it more James Gunn.'” He went home after receiving that note and wrote the scene where the Guardians sit around laughing at Quill’s “12 percent of a plan.”

24. James Gunn thinks of Rocket as a furry, cute version of Frankenstein’s monster.

“For me, Rocket is Frankenstein’s monster. He is this little creature that was this innocent animal, who was turned into something that isn’t what he was supposed to be, and is completely alone and completely lost, and has no connection, has no tenderness from anyone,” Gunn says. “To me that was the seed from which the entire story grew.”

25. The Russos wanted viewers to really believe that Thor was going to kill Thanos.

“We needed to create a situation where you really believed that Thor was going to kill Thanos. That was the story of the film–his journey to that,” Anthony Russo says. “This guy has lost everything. And it’s this level of sadness that imbues him with that underdog quality that then becomes the heart of the movie, and you start to root for, and you believe that’s sort of the energy that’s gonna carry you into the climax.”

Avengers: Infinity War Deleted Scene Fills In The Missing Half Of A Key Moment

Avengers: Infinity War is a truly great movie–that’s something that is hard to dispute. However, it’s also a long movie. With a run time of nearly three hours, it turns out quite a bit of footage had to be trimmed from the final cut.

Unfortunately, one of the scenes that got pulled out of the film actually helps in connecting some major dots. Thankfully, the digital release of the film comes with deleted scenes that help make sense of it all.

In the theatrical cut of Infinity War, the Guardians of the Galaxy head to Titan–the home planet of Thanos–after the villain kidnaps Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Viewers are left to assume they set their sights on Titan thanks to a message from an escaped Nebula (Karen Gillan). Unfortunately, the film never shows whether the team got her message.

Thankfully, the deleted footage shows they did–and in a hilarious way. Stuck in space with no idea of where Thanos went, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) is drowning his sorrows in KISS music, while the rest of the team ignores the coded messages being sent by Nebula. Once they finally figure out what’s happening though, Quill is irate as he reads the messages.

The missives sent by Nebula include:

  • “Gamora is alive.”
  • “Thanos is taking her to Titan.”
  • “Why aren’t you responding?”
  • “Are you getting my important secret coded messages?”
  • “Tell Quill not to lose my sister a second time or I will sew his face to his genitals.”

Clearly, Nebula means business. From there, the team finally heads to Titan in an attempt to rescue Gamore. As with the cut cameo featuring Happy Hogan, this isn’t necessarily a scene that holds the movie together and is mostly for laughs. Still, it would have been a welcome addition to the final cut.

The digital release of Avengers: Infinity War is available now. You’ll be able to purchase it on Blu-ray on August 14.

A Sandlot Prequel Is Happening With Original Writer-Director

A prequel to 1993’s baseball movie The Sandlot is on the way, according to a new report. The original movie’s writer and director David Mickey Evans is coming back to co-write the script, according to a report from Deadline.

The first movie saw a group of boys losing a ball signed by Babe Ruth over the fence and having to face off against a giant creature to get it back. That beast, or the legend of that beast, is said to be a plotline in the prequel, but other story details are unknown.

A period movie set in 1962, The Sandlot has become a cult classic. The film recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, with most of the film’s stars–now grown up–making the press tour rounds to talk about the anniversary.

There were two direct-to-video sequels, 2005’s The Sandlot 2 and 2007’s The Sandlot: Heading Home, but they were nowhere near as memorable as the first movie.

The Sandlot is a beloved and classic coming-of-age movie that is now a pop culture reference point with, among things, the line, “You’re killin’ me smalls!”. No casting details for the prequel have been announced, nor is there any word on who may direct or when the film will be released. It’s in the works at 20th Century Fox, but is only in the “early” stages.

PS4 Sales Pass 80 Million Units, As God Of War Exceeds Expectations

The PS4 has reached a new sales milestone. Sony announced in its latest earnings report that the console shifted 3.2 million consoles during the quarter ended July 31, which pushes the system’s life-to-date shipment tally to more than 82 million units. This is up from 79 million units shipped that Sony announced for the previous reporting period.

The 3.2 million PS4s that Sony shipped during the quarter represents a slight downturn from the same period last year when Sony shipped 3.3 million PS4 systems. Looking ahead, Sony is predicting it will ship 17 million units during the current fiscal year, which is up from its previous forecast of 16 million units. Whatever the case, PS4 sales are expected to fall year-over-year, as Sony shipped 19 million PS4s during the previous fiscal year. Recently, Sony said the PS4 was entering the end of its lifecycle.

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Sony’s video game division, Game & Network Services, saw sales rise 36 percent to 472.1 billion yen. Sony said it attributes the uptick in sales to strong PS4 game sales. Sony’s God of War, as well as “other third-party titles,” performed well, “significantly exceeding expectations.”

God of War launched back in April and became the PS4’s fastest-selling exclusive game ever. Sony added that it received “strong feedback” for the games it announced at E3, though it did not mention any by name.

Business is good for PlayStation right now, but the company is taking something of a PR hit as it continues to prevent the PS4 from allowing cross-play with other consoles. For lots more on this subject, you can check out GameSpot’s new video feature above.