Want to catch up on the entire MCU before seeing Avengers: Infinity War? AMC Theatres has you covered, in the form of a giant movie marathon. From a purely objective standpoint, there is no bigger currently active film franchise than Marvel Studios’ sprawling MCU. Whether one personally loves the MCU or loathes it, the films earn predominantly good reviews from critics, and tend to break the bank at the box office. Over the course of 18 films - and counting - the MCU has hauled in over $14.6 billion worldwide.

Marvel Studios has already succeeded in getting its 2018 off to a roaring start, thanks to the mega success of Black Panther. Critics love the Wakandan hero’s first solo effort, with the film holding a 97 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As for the box office, T’Challa and company are cleaning up, having already earned nearly $1.1 billion in ticket sales, and reigned atop the domestic charts for four straight weeks.

Black Panther’s success certainly leaves the MCU’s next effort with huge shoes to fill, but thankfully, said effort is perhaps the biggest film in the MCU to date. Featuring the arrival to Earth of Thanos the Mad Titan, Avengers: Infinity War will unite all the disparate MCU characters into a single story, whether they end up under the thumb of Thanos or decide to risk working against him. It seems likely that at least one iconic Marvel hero won’t survive the fight, and according to producers, any deaths that occur may be for good. However, Avengers: Infinity War would mean nothing without the 18 films that led up to its events. For those wanting to get reacquainted with those stories, AMC Theatres will host a 31-hour(!) marathon leading up to Infinity War’s release.

For now, information on the marathon is scarce. Tickets for the intimidatingly long marathon are not yet on sale, it’s not clear when exactly the first screening will begin - although one can obviously use math to try and figure out an approximate start time - and it’s unknown whether the 18 prior MCU films will be shown in the order of their release or in chronological order. Release order may have once seemed the obvious route to go for these marathons, but the last few films have seen lots of jumping around in the franchise’s timeline, so it might be beneficial to try and make the progression more clear when viewing them back to back.

As the MCU’s line-up continues to expand year after year, one wonders if this type of franchise-long marathon will eventually become too unwieldy to continue doing. After all, this one already stretches for over a day, and five more MCU films will have arrived by the time the first MCU entry of 2020 hits theaters. At some point, theater chains holding these events will likely need to institute mandatory naps, meals, and bathroom breaks just to provide for the health of their patrons.

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Source: AMC Theatres

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