The Avengers is set to pass the $600 million domestic mark sometime today which provides us a chance to honor director Joss Whedon who has just joined an exclusive club that previously only catered to James Cameron. While Cameron still has the $700 million milestone under his hat with Avatar, it is worth noting that no one else has managed to helm a film even close to that until Marvel’s ensemble piece took America by storm a few months back.
It has been quite a journey for Whedon as the man who lost two shows to Fox and founded the cult classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer is finally getting his due. This is the man who also backed Firefly which spun off a full-length feature film in the form of the well-received Serenity. While that effort remains somewhat of a love child for fans of its short-lived television source material, the movie continues to get a lot of play in part due to the director’s continued ability to please the masses.
That said, it is certainly a compelling argument to give Whedon another crack at the franchise seven years later, but there is a much more practical dialogue to be had in whether or not he will finally get to spin off big budget movies year after year like so many of today’s A-list directors. Our hope is that this becomes a reality and fast; however, a lot of that will be based on whether the man continues on with The Avengers. We can only hope that is true, and I have personally seen conflicting reports on whether or not he has an option with Marvel that obligates him to sequelize the box office mega-star.
We look forward to hearing more on what is in store for Joss and The Avengers in the new future, but for now all we really can do is watch Hollywood drown in box office receipts from super hero movies made by comic book fans.