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Thomas Kretschmann and Henry Goodman reprise their roles as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and Dr List Hydra leaders who specialize in human experimentation advanced robotics and artificial intelligence from Captain America The Winter Soldier Linda Cardellini portrays Laura Barton Hawkeye s wife Claudia Kim portrays Helen Cho a world renowned geneticist who helps the Avengers from her office in Seoul and Andy Serkis portrays Ulysses Klaue a black market arms dealer smuggler and gangster who is a former acquaintance from Stark s weapons dealing days Julie Delpy appears as Madame B who mentored Black Widow into becoming an assassin Kerry Condon voices the artificial intelligence FRIDAY a replacement for JARVIS while Spader also voices Stark s Iron Legion droids Josh Brolin makes an uncredited appearance during the midcredits scene as Thanos reprising his role from Guardians of the Galaxy Avengers cocreator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the film as a military veteran who attends the Avengers victory party Tom Hiddleston was to reprise his role of Loki but his scenes did not make the theatrical cut of the film

In October 2011 Kevin Feige president of Marvel Studios said the studio was beginning to look at their Phase Two films which would start with Iron Man 3 and would culminate in a second Avengers film In March 2012 Joss Whedon director of the first film stated that he would want a sequel to be smaller More personal More painful By being the next thing that should happen to these characters and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself Despite the production of the film becoming increasingly wider in scope Feige maintained that this was not their intention always looking to see where the team wanted to take the characters over how to make it bigger than The Avengers

At the premiere of The Avengers Feige said the studio had an option for Whedon to return as director In May 2012 after the successful release of the first film Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a sequel was in development Most of the film s cast members were under contract to potentially appear in the sequel however Robert Downey Jr was not as his four picture deal with Marvel expired after Iron Man 3

At the 2012 San Diego Comic Con International Whedon said he was undecided about directing However in August 2012 Iger announced that Whedon would return to write and direct the sequel and develop the Marvel television series Agents of SHIELD for ABC Later in the month Disney set a May 1 2015 release date When asked about his decision to return Whedon said Avengers 2 it was nt a tough decision For a long time I thought Well it s just not going to happen Then when I actually started to consider it it became so clear that I desperately wanted to say more about these characters it would ve been an easy no and it was a spectacularly easy yes There was no wrestling Whedon said that they intended for the film s production to not be as rushed as the first one

In December 2012 Whedon stated that he had completed an outline for the film In February at the 2013 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival Whedon said that death would play a theme in the sequel and in March he said that he looked to The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II as inspirations

Feige revealed that Captain Marvel who is scheduled to appear in her own MCU film in 2019 appeared in an early draft of the screenplay but was removed since the character had not yet been cast saying It did nt feel like the time We did nt want to introduce her fully formed flying in a costume before you knew who she was or how she came to be Whedon went so far as to shoot visual effects plates for Captain Marvel to fly into Avengers Tower at the end of the film those shots were reused however for Scarlet Witch instead Feige also revealed that an early draft of the script had Hulk s Quinjet detected near Saturn at the end of the film but it was finally decided to keep it Earth based and leave his fate ambiguous in order to dispel rumors that a film based on the Planet Hulk comic storyline was in development which Marvel Studios had no plans to adapt at the time Marvel would later decide to adapt Planet Hulk for the film Thor Ragnarok in which the Hulk does end up leaving Earth

By April 2013 filming was scheduled to begin in early 2014 at Shepperton Studios in England At the Hollywood premiere of Iron Man 3 Whedon said that he had completed a draft of the script started the storyboard process and met with actors Whedon also mentioned that he wrote with Downey in mind and included a brother sister act from the comic books later confirming that he was referring to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch Whedon explained his rationale for including the characters in the film saying their powers are very visually interesting One of the problems I had on the first one was everybody basically had punchy powers Quicksilver s got super speed Scarlet Witch can weave spells and a little telekinesis get inside your head There s good stuff that they can do that will help sort of keep it fresh though cautioned he was not throwing in more characters for the sake of doing that Whedon stated that the twins allowed him to add more conflict They do nt like America and they do nt like the Avengers The Avengers are like a world power and not everybody s on board with the Avengers coming in and starting fights even in the name of justice So you need that dissenting voice and you need to understand it and sympathize with it Because Marvel Studios shares the film rights to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch with 20th Century Fox and had to avoid conflict with Fox s XMen films Whedon introduced two important characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe completely on his terms for the first time which allowed him to connect their origin stories to the universe that they created and avoid the concept of mutants Whedon relished at the storytelling opportunities by introducing a character with telepathic powers explaining it meant we could spend a little time inside the Avengers heads either their past or their impressions of what s going on or their fears or all of the above By May Downey had entered negotiations to extend his contract with Marvel Studios and reprise his role as Iron Man in the film A month later Downey signed on to return for the then untitled Avengers sequel as well as a third Avengers film

At the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International Whedon announced the film would be subtitled Age of Ultron Despite the subtitle the film is not based on the 2013 comic book miniseries Age of Ultron Feige explained that they simply liked the title Age of Ultron but the plot was taken from decades of Avengers story arcs Whedon added that Ultron s origin would differ from his comics roots and that Hank Pym would not be involved with Ultron s creation Whedon disclosed that Edgar Wright had rights to the character first through his inclusion in Ant Man which was already in development He also thought that Ultron needed to be conceived through the Avengers and since they already had Tony Stark and Bruce Banner on the team it would not make sense to bring in a third scientist Whedon also said the film would have a darker tone due to Ultron s involvement

The title of the film came as a surprise to many fans who were expecting Thanos the mastermind behind the events of the first film to be the main villain in the sequel with Whedon saying Thanos was never meant to be the next villain He s always been the overlord of villainy and darkness Commenting on finding the right balance between technology and fantasy based heroes in Avengers Age of Ultron Feige said Iron Man is a very technological hero his movies are always technologically based The first Thor was all about introducing Asgard and Thor in that more fantastical realm into the more reality based MCU As we go into Ultron clearly he does come out of technology but we re using all of our tools at our disposal that we ve established so far as part of the MCU to build the storyline of Age of Ultron

Casting continued into August 2013 with the announcement that James Spader would play Ultron In November Marvel confirmed that Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor Johnson would play the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver respectively Taylor Johnson had been in negotiations since as early as June while Olsen s potential involvement was first reported in August By the end of the year Mark Ruffalo Chris Evans Samuel L Jackson Chris Hemsworth Scarlett Johansson Jeremy Renner and Cobie Smulders were confirmed to be returning to their roles from the first film and Don Cheadle who portrayed James Rhodes in the Iron Man films had committed to a part in the film In the early months of 2014 Thomas Kretschmann was cast as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker Claudia Kim was cast in an unspecified role and Paul Bettany who voiced JARVIS in previous MCU films was cast as the Vision Whedon said juggling all the characters in the film was a nightmare explaining They re very disparate characters The joy of the Avengers is they really do nt belong in the same room It s not like the XMen who are all tortured by the same thing and have similar costumes These guys are just all over the place And so it s tough Honestly this is as tough as anything I ve ever done

On January 24 2014 the Forte di Bard Association announced that filming would take place at Fort Bard in the Aosta Valley region of Italy in March 2014 as well as other locations in Aosta Valley including Aosta Bard Donnas Pont Saint Martin and Verrs The next month the Gauteng Film Commission announced that action sequences would be filmed in Johannesburg South Africa and other locations in Gauteng beginning in midFebruary A few weeks later Marvel announced that portions of the film would be shot in South Korea Feige cited the nation s cutting edge technology beautiful landscapes and spectacular architecture as ideal for the film The nation s capital Seoul and Seoul s surrounding province Gyeonggi were selected as filming locations with South Korea s Ministry of Culture Sports and Tourism reimbursing up to 30 of the studio s expenditures as part of a state funded incentive program

Filming began on Tuesday February 11 2014 in Johannesburg South Africa having been postponed that Monday Second unit crews shot action sequences without the main cast to be used as background plates for scenes featuring the Hulk in the Central Business District of Johannesburg for a period of two weeks By midMarch principal photography had begun at Shepperton Studios near London and was scheduled to film there for at least four months under the working title After Party Filming at Shepperton as well as other locations in England allowed Whedon to get a number of different looks and textures and moods to give the film a different palette and fresh aesthetic from its predecessor Production designer Charles Wood built an enormous new Avengers Tower set one of the largest sets ever built for a Marvel film The set featured multiple connected environments and levels On March 22 production moved to Fort Bard Italy and continued in the Aosta Valley region through March 28 The region doubled as the fictional Eastern European nation of Sokovia with crews replacing local storefronts with Cyrillic script Filming in South Korea began on March 30 on the Mapo Bridge and continued through April 14 at various locations in Seoul While in Seoul the production was able to attach cameras to drones and race cars to get unique camera angles and footage An artificial island on the Han River known as the Saebit Dungdungseom served as the headquarters of an IT institute featured in the film Scenes involving Ultron s attack on parts of the city were shot in the Gangnam District

In April shooting began in Hawley Woods in Hampshire England and Hayley Atwell who played Peggy Carter in previous MCU films filmed scenes inside the Rivoli Ballroom in London while extras performed the Lindy Hop That June scenes were shot at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and at Dover Castle in Kent with Dover Castle used for interior shots of Strucker s Hydra base in Sokovia The next month filming took place at a training facility for London s Metropolitan Police Service which doubled as a city in Sokovia Additional filming took place in Chittagong Bangladesh including the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard and in New York City On August 6 Whedon announced on social media that he had completed principal photography on Avengers Age of Ultron Disney spent 3306 million on Avengers Age of Ultron from February 2013 to November 2014 but 507 million of this was offset by payments from the UK tax authority A report on actual production costs for films from FilmL A Inc indicated a gross budget of 316 million with a net of 2674 million for Avengers Age of Ultron

Cinematographer Ben Davis who also worked with Marvel on Guardians of the Galaxy shot the film with a main unit of three Arri Alexa cameras Davis said Although the Alexa was Marvel s preferred camera we were nt locked into that choice from the start What was nt negotiable was the fact that we were shooting digital that s how Marvel shoots all of its films Davis also used Blackmagic Design s Pocket Cinema Cameras to meet the needs of the second unit kit explaining The second unit typically needs a fleet of smaller cameras that are less expensive and are rugged enough to handle the various trials by fire as it were that we throw at them About the camera system Whedon stated that this film was shot very differently from the first one using lots of long lenses and that he aimed to shoot the film almost like a documentary To create the scenes depicting how Quicksilver views the world scenes were shot with an ultrahigh speed camera and later combined with shots of Taylor Johnson moving through the same scene at normal speed

In June 2014 the IMAX Corporation announced that the IMAX release of the film would be converted to IMAX 3D Following the completion of principal photography several more cast members were revealed including Stellan Skarsgrd Anthony Mackie Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston reprising their roles from previous MCU films However Hiddleston s scenes did not make the theatrical cut of the film with Whedon saying what was shot did nt play and he did not want the film to feel overstuffed According to Hiddleston In test screenings audiences had overemphasized Loki s role so they thought that because I was in it I was controlling Ultron and it was actually imbalancing people s expectations Whedon later explained that Elba and Atwell appear in the film because of exploring the psyches of the Avengers from Scarlet Witch s power In December 2014 Kim s role was revealed as Dr Helen Cho Additional scenes were scheduled to be filmed in January 2015 at Pinewood Studios In February 2015 Marvel confirmed through promotional material that Serkis portrays Ulysses Klaue in the film In early April 2015 Linda Cardellini and Julie Delpy were confirmed to be part of the film s cast At the same time Whedon stated that the film would not contain a postcredits scene which had become customary for MCU films Whedon tried to come up with a postcredit scene but felt that he could not top the Shawarma scene in The Avengers explaining It did nt seem to lend itself in the same way and we wanted to be true to what felt right The first rule of making a sequel is take the best moments and do something else Do nt do the Indiana Jones gun trick again differently Just go somewhere else Do nt try to hit the same highs because people will sense it However Feige clarified There will be a tag shortly after the credits start But there s not a post post credit scene

In May 2015 Whedon revealed he was in conflict with Marvel executives and the film s editors about certain scenes in the film The executives were not thrilled with the scenes at Hawkeye s farm or the dream sequences the Avengers experience because of Scarlet Witch Also Whedon had originally shot a much longer scene with Thor and Selvig in the cave compromising with including a reduced amount of the total footage shot as test audiences did not respond to it In the scene Thor would be possessed by a Norn a goddess of destiny while Selvig would quiz her about Thor s hallucination Additionally Whedon reiterated he had wanted to include Captain Marvel and Spider Man at the end but deals for each character signing of an actress and a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment respectively were not completed in time for their inclusion

The film contains 3000 visual effects shots completed by ten different visual effects studios including Industrial Light Magic ILM Trixter Double Negative Animal Logic Framestore Lola VFX Territory Perception Method Studios Luma Pictures and The Third Floor ILM opened a facility in London citing Avengers Age of Ultron as a catalyst for the expansion and developed a new motion capture system for the film called Muse which can better capture an actor s performance and combine different takes About the motion capture process Ruffalo called it more of a collaboration since the technology is advancing with the face capture and the motion capture can now being put together allowing you to get a lot more latitude as a performer you re no longer constricted by the attributes that you have as a person your age or weight or size None of that matters anymore And so there s this whole exciting place to go that is kind of unknown Visual effects supervisor Christopher Townsend said that the visual effects team considered depicting the Hulk when manipulated by Wanda Maximoff as being grey skinned with red eyes but eventually decided against it as they did not want to confuse audiences who might associate it with Joe Fixit the grey Hulk from the comics

Method Studios created the interior of the new Avengers training facility by digitally designing the training facility extracting the characters from the original set and placing them into the new CG environment Method also contributed to Iron Man s new Mark 45 suit and played a key role in creating Scarlet Witch s CG mind control effect Following the trend in recent years most of the computer screens in Stark s lab Dr Cho s laboratory the Quinjet and other locations in the film were not added in postproduction but were actually working screens on set adding to the realism of the film and saving some on the postproduction budget London based Territory Studio delivered the screen visuals filled with unique imagery and animations that matched the character using them Perception worked on the main on end and main titles for the film Before settling on the marble monument depiction for the main on end titles Perception created three other versions which were based on Ultron s hive mind ability from the film renderings of power and pure energy inspired by classic comic panels and classic moments for each character The final design was inspired by war monuments such as the Iwo Jima memorial For the main titles Marvel wanted the typeface to be a direct continuation of the first film Perception made the typeface a marble texture to mimic the main on end titles and changed the title s rotation away from the camera instead of towards the camera in The Avengers before Age of Ultron overtakes Avengers in a vibranium texture

In March 2014 Brian Tyler signed on to compose the film s score replacing the composer for the first film Alan Silvestri while also marking his third film collaboration with Marvel following Iron Man 3 and Thor The Dark World in 2013 Tyler stated that the score pays homage to John Williams scores for Star Wars Superman and Raiders of the Lost Ark and references the scores for the Iron Man Thor and Captain America films in order to create a similar musical universe saying That s the goal for sure You have to build in nostalgia and do it upfront so you can relate to it Danny Elfman also contributed music to the score using Silvestri s theme from the first film to create a new hybrid theme Hollywood Records released the album digitally on April 28 2015 and in physical formats on May 19

Avengers Age of Ultron made its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on April 13 2015 and held its European premiere on April 21 at the Vue West End in London The film was released in 11 territories on April 22 with its release jumping to 55 of its international market 44 countries by the end of its first weekend before the North American release on May 1 in 3D and IMAX 3D In North America the film opened in 4276 theaters including 2761 3D theaters 364 IMAX 400 premium large format and 143 D Box theaters Many independent theater owners in Germany approximately 700 screens boycotted the film in response to Disney raising its rental fee from 477 to 53 of ticket sales The owners felt that the increased fees coupled with the cost of digitization and rising staff and marketing costs may force some of them out of business

In September 2014 TNT acquired the US cable broadcast rights for broadcast two years after its theatrical release On March 4 2015 ticket presales for the film began Variety noted The two month gap between advance sales and the release is much wider than normal and reflects the heavy fan anticipation for the film

At the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International Whedon introduced a teaser trailer for the film which included a look at an Ultron helmet and a title treatment Footage of the teaser as well as a brief interview with Whedon was made available as part of Iron Man 3 s second screen companion app for its Blu ray release on September 24 2013 On March 18 2014 ABC aired a one hour television special titled Marvel Studios Assembling a Universe which included a sneak peek of Avengers Age of Ultron The special debuted concept art for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch as well as art of the Hulk fighting the Hulkbuster Iron Man suit Harley Davidson partnered with Marvel to provide their first electric motorcycle Project LiveWire for use by Black Widow in the film At the 2014 San Diego Comic Con the cast was introduced to promote the film along with screening footage from the film Avengers Age of Ultron received the second most amount of social media mentions at the convention following Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice but had a higher intend to see response

The first trailer was scheduled to premiere during the airing of an episode of Agents of SHIELD on October 28 2014 However on October 22 the trailer leaked online and within a few hours Marvel officially released the trailer on YouTube Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter noted the effective use of the song I ve Got No Strings from Pinocchio 1940 in the trailer Scott Mendelson of Forbes felt the trailer was such a textbook dark sequel trailer that it borders on parody but said it s a pretty spectacular piece of marketing one that elevates itself both by the music choices and by James Spader s vocals as the title villain The trailer received 343 million global views in 24 hours 262 million from Marvel s YouTube channel which broke the previous record held by Iron Man 3 with 2314 million views In comparison the original Avengers teaser received 204 million views in 24 hours after its debut In response Marvel agreed to air footage from Age of Ultron during the episode of Agents of SHIELD that was originally scheduled to premiere the trailer At the end of October Marvel Comic s Editor in Chief Axel Alonso stated there were comic tie in plans for the film

In November 2014 ABC aired another one hour television special titled Marvel 75 Years From Pulp to Pop which featured behind the scenes footage of Age of Ultron Also in November an extended trailer debuted on Samsung Mobile s YouTube channel featuring product placement for various Samsung devices In December 2014 additional behind the scenes footage was released as a special feature on the Guardians of the Galaxy Blu ray highlighting the various filming locations for the film Also in the month ABC announced that an episode of Marvel s Agents of SHIELD would tie in to the events of the film The episodes The Frenemy of My Enemy and The Dirty Half Dozen feature Easter eggs plot threads and other connective tissue leading into the opening scene of Avengers Age of Ultron while Scars explores the aftermath of the film

In January 2015 a featurette focusing on Ultron was shown at Samsung s Night With Marvel event at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show CES Also at CES Samsung revealed a selection of hardware inspired by the Avengers films as well as a simulation of Avengers Tower via its Gear VR virtual reality device A second trailer premiered on ESPN on January 12 2015 during the broadcast of the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship Mendelson enjoyed the trailer but wished it did not reveal as many story elements as it did However he added the marketing thus far for the film has been far superior to much of what sold The Avengers three years ago both in terms of the specific footage and the artistic choices being made I m sold and I imagine most of the general moviegoers are already onboard too

On February 3 2014 Marvel stealth released a one shot tie in comic Avengers Age of Ultron Prelude This Scepter d Isle Written by Will Corona Pilgrim and illustrated by Wellinton Alves it reveals how Strucker came into possession of Loki s scepter and the origin of the Maximoff twins abilities At the end of the month the film s official poster was revealed Graeme McMillian of The Hollywood Reporter criticized it for its lack of originality calling it pretty much the poster for the first Avengers movie except with added flying robots in the background and the fact that it incorporated many of the same tropes the other MCU Phase Two film posters did These included the hero es staring off camera destruction in the background as well as something occurring in the sky and poor Photoshop on the poster highlighting the fact that each of the actors were obviously photographed separately and were later composited together into the poster Mendelson agreed with many of McMillian s observations and called the poster hilariously photoshopped

The final trailer was unlocked by fans on March 4 2015 via the use of hashtags on Twitter ahead of its broadcast debut during the series premiere of American Crime on March 5 Mendelson felt this was a fine final trailer teasing what we already know hinting at the scale and a few new action beats without telling us much we do nt already know adding Here we have the fourth and final Avengers Age of Ultron trailer and we do nt know all that much about what transpires in a moment to moment sense in the finished 150 minute feature I have expressed my concern dating back to October that Marvel and Disney would release too many trailers and would by default give away too much plot and character information between October and May But if this really is the final Avengers 2 trailer then at least on the trailer front they have kept the film relatively unspoiled A week after the final trailer debuted Marvel revealed that the trailer had smashed records with over 35 million views

In April 2015 members of the cast presented Downey with the MTV Generation Award at the 2015 MTV Movie Awards along with debuting an exclusive clip from the film On April 27 Downey and Renner along with executives from Marvel Entertainment rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in celebration of the film s theatrical release Disney spent a total of 269 million on television advertisements for the film from an estimated total marketing budget of 180 million

In January 2015 Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment and Traveller s Tales announced a Lego video game adaptation of the first film and Age of Ultron for release in late 2015 on a variety of video game consoles In March 2015 Disney said it planned to broaden its merchandising strategy with Avengers Age of Ultron by expanding the target demographics to women and to fans of the individual superheroes that make up the Avengers Paul Gitter senior vice president of Marvel licensing for Disney Consumer Products said For the first film we primarily focused on the Avengers property and the group shots Now we re broadening the line and scope to create skews that focus on the team and the individuals characters as well Disney Consumer Products partnered with Hasbro Lego Hot Wheels and Funko for action figures playsets and other toys and with Under Armour for apparel Disney established new partnerships in the food and packaged goods categories including with Sage Fruit ConAgra Crunchpak and Chobani Walt Disney India s consumer products partnered with 50 brands to promote the film in India considered the highest ever for any film Hollywood or Bollywood released in India the previous record held by Ra One had 25 partners Some of the brands include Amazon India toy retailer Hamleys India online fashion store Myntra Hero Cycles Mountain Dew Liberty Shoes Tupperware and Subway restaurants among others

Avengers Age of Ultron was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on digital download on September 8 2015 and on Blu ray and DVD on October 2 2015 The digital and Blu ray releases include behind the scenes featurettes audio commentary deleted scenes and a blooper reel The film was also collected in a 13 disc box set titled Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two Collection which includes all of the Phase Two films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe It was released on December 8 2015 In July 2015 Whedon stated that he did not intend on releasing a director s cut of Avengers Age of Ultron because despite the film s complexity he was satisfied with the theatrical version and did not think it needed to be tweaked

Avengers Age of Ultron grossed 459 million in North America and 9464 million in other territories for a worldwide total of 1405 billion It is the seventh highest grossing film worldwide and the fourth highest grossing 2015 film Avengers Age of Ultron s worldwide opening of 3925 million is the seventh largest ever The film set a worldwide IMAX opening weekend record with 252 million previously held by The Dark Knight Rises and also broke the record for the fastest movie to make over 40 million in IMAX theaters doing so in 12 days According to some analysts the opening weekend box office gross was lower than expected because of the weekend s featured boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao Deadlinecom calculated the net profit of the film to be 38232 million when factoring together production budgets PA talent participations and other costs with box office grosses and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV placing it fourth on their list of 2015 s Most Valuable Blockbusters

On May 15 2015 Avengers Age of Ultron became the twenty first film in cinematic history the third Marvel Studios film and the eighth film distributed by Disney to cross the 1 billion threshold at the box office

Avengers Age of Ultron earned 8446 million on its opening day marking the biggest opening day for a superhero film and the second biggest opening and second biggest single day gross behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 917 million The film s Friday gross included 276 million from Thursday night which began at 7 pm and was the sixth highest ever for Thursday preview earnings and the highest among Marvel films The film totaled 1913 million in its opening weekend the third highest gross behind Jurassic World 2088 million and The Avengers 2074 million It also saw the second highest IMAX opening weekend total with 18 million behind The Dark Knight Rises a record 135 million from premium large format theaters and the highest share for the first weekend in May accounting for 85 of the top twelve box office total earnings previously held by Spider Man 3 Of those in attendance the first weekend 59 were male 41 were female and 59 were over the age of 25

In its second weekend the film fell 59 earning 777 million which was the second biggest second weekend gross behind The Avengers 103 million both were surpassed a month later by Jurassic World s 1066 million It holds the record for the second biggest loss between first and second weekends with 1136 million only behind Deathly Hallows Part 2 s 121 million loss between its first and second weekends in 2011 It became the third highest grossing film of 2015

Avengers Age of Ultron earned 2002 million in its first weekend from 44 countries opening in first in all which was 44 above its predecessor s opening Additionally the film saw the largest nonChina international IMAX opening with 104 million The top earning countries were South Korea 282 million the UK 273 million and Russia 162 million The film broke records in many countries including opening day records in Mexico 68 million the Philippines 16 million and Indonesia 900000 opening weekend records in Mexico 255 million Russia and the CIS 162 million Hong Kong 64 million and the Philippines 77 million and highest opening weekend for a superhero film in the UK Ireland and Malta 273 million Germany 93 million Sweden Norway and the Netherlands

In the UK where Age of Ultron was filmed it earned 54 million on its opening day and 273 million during the weekend setting an opening weekend record for a superhero film Marvel s biggest opening in Britain the biggest April opening the eighth biggest debut It also set the best single day earning for a Disney and superhero film with its 94 million haul on Saturday In South Korea also where part of the film was shot the film earned 49 million on its opening day and 282 through the weekend It held the record for advance ticket sales rate accounting for 96 of tickets reserved breaking Transformers Dark of the Moon s record of 946 in 2011 the widest release ever across 1826 screens also breaking Dark of the Moon s 1420 screens and the fastest imported film to surpass one million admissions doing so in two days it topped the box office for three consecutive weekends and became the biggest Disney Marvel release as well as the second biggest Western film in the country The Chinese opening scored the biggest weekday opening day as well as the biggest Disney Marvel opening with 339 million and the second biggest six day start with 1563 million behind Furious 7 of which 175 million came from IMAX theaters the biggest ever Age of Ultron also opened at number one in Japan in early July 2015 with 65 million the highest opening weekend for an MCU release As of January 3 2016 it is the seventh highest grossing film and the fourth highest grossing 2015 film Additionally the film s largest markets as of July 17 2015 are China 2401 million South Korea 805 million and the UK Ireland and Malta 766 million

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 75 approval rating with an average rating of 67 10 based on 323 reviews The website s critical consensus reads Exuberant and eye popping Avengers Age of Ultron serves as an overstuffed but mostly satisfying sequel reuniting its predecessor s unwieldy cast with a few new additions and a worthy foe On Metacritic the film achieved an average score of 66 out of 100 based on 49 critics signifying generally favorable reviews CinemaScore reported that audiences gave the film an A grade on an A to F scale

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said Avengers Age of Ultron succeeds in the top priority of creating a worthy opponent for its superheroes and giving the latter a few new things to do but this time the action scenes do nt always measure up Scott Foundas of Variety wrote If this is what the apotheosis of branded big studio entertainment has come to look like in 2015 we could be doing much worse Unlike its title character Age of Ultron most definitely has soul Writing for the Chicago Sun Times and giving the film three and ahalf out of four stars Richard Roeper said Some day an Avengers film might collapse under the weight of its own awesomeness I mean how many times can they save the world But this is not that day Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote Age of Ultron is a whole summer of fireworks packed into one movie It does nt just go to 11 it starts there Joss Whedon takes a few wrong turns creating a jumble when the action gets too thick But he recovers like a pro devising a spectacle that s epic in every sense of the word Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbertcom gave the film three out of four stars stating that despite being bigger louder and more disjointed than its predecessor it s also got more personality specifically Whedon s than any other film in the now seven year old franchise Helen OHara of Empire praised the interactions between the characters the action set pieces and Whedon s ability as a director in her review stating that the film redefines the scale we can expect from our superheroes

Conversely Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said Although this movie is effective moment to moment very little of it lingers in the mind afterward The ideal vehicle for our age of immediate sensation and instant gratification it disappears without a trace almost as soon as it s consumed Scott Mendelson of Forbes said Avengers Age of Ultron plays like an obligation a box to be checked off on a list before all parties move onto the things they really want to do Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote This Avengers does nt always pop the way that the first one sometimes did partly because its villain is nt as memorable despite Mr Spader s silky threat Camilla Long of The Sunday Times remarked Two hours of boredom and boobs add up to a sorry basis for the new Avengers Much like the release of Guardians of the Galaxy the film received mixed reviews upon release in China due to poor translations The translations which were said to be too literal were thought to have been done by Google Translate

In December 2015 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences placed Avengers Age of Ultron on their shortlist of potential nominees for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 88th Academy Awards but ultimately did not nominate it for the award

Avengers Infinity War and an untitled sequel will be directed by Anthony and Joe Russo from a script by Christopher Markus Stephen McFeely Infinity War is scheduled to be released on May 4 2018 with the sequel scheduled for May 3 2019 Downey Evans Hemsworth Ruffalo Olsen Bettany Johansson Hiddleston Brolin Mackie Cheadle Renner and Jackson reprise their roles as Iron Man Captain America Thor Hulk Scarlet Witch Vision Black Widow Loki Thanos Falcon War Machine Hawkeye and Fury respectively in Infinity War They are joined by Chris Pratt Zoe Saldana Pom Klementieff Karen Gillan Dave Bautista Bradley Cooper Vin Diesel Benedict Cumberbatch Sebastian Stan Tom Holland Chadwick Boseman and Paul Rudd all reprising their MCU roles as Peter Quill Star Lord Gamora Mantis Nebula Drax the Destroyer Rocket Groot Doctor Stephen Strange Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier Peter Parker Spider Man TChalla Black Panther and Scott Lang Ant Man respectively

Preacher is an American television series developed by Sam Catlin Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen for AMC starring Dominic Cooper It is an adaptation of the comic book series Preacher created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon and published by DC Comics Vertigo imprint The series was officially picked up on September 9 2015 with a ten episode order which premiered on May 22 2016 On June 29 2016 AMC renewed the series for a 13 episode second season that premiered on June 25 2017

On November 16 2013 it was announced that AMC was developing a TV series based on the DC Vertigo comic book series Preacher On November 18 2013 it was revealed that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were developing the series pilot with Sam Catlin and that it would be distributed by Sony Pictures Television On February 6 2014 AMC ordered a pilot script to be written by Rogen and Goldberg and confirmed Sam Catlin would serve as showrunner On December 3 2014 AMC ordered the pilot written by Catlin to be filmed Comic creators Steve Dillon and Garth Ennis serve as coexecutive producers for the series

In March 2015 Ruth Negga was cast as Tulip OHare the exgirlfriend of Jesse Custer and Joe Gilgun was cast as Cassidy an Irish vampire and the best friend of Custer In April 2015 Lucy Griffiths was cast as Emily Woodrow a character described as a no nonsense single mother of three who is a waitress the church organist bookkeeper and Jesse s loyal right hand Also in April it was confirmed that Dominic Cooper would play Custer On May 14 2015 Rogen revealed that filming on the pilot episode of Preacher had started Rogen additionally revealed that he and Goldberg would be directing the pilot

The series was officially picked up for series with ten episodes on September 9 2015

AMC aired a marathon of the first five episodes of Preacher from June 30 to July 1 2016 with bonus behind the scenes footage within each episode

Talking Preacher is a live aftershow hosted by Chris Hardwick which features guests discussing episodes of Preacher The show uses the same format as Talking Dead Talking Bad and Talking Saul which are also hosted by Hardwick

The first episode of Talking Preacher debuted immediately following the pilot encore on May 29 2016 with guests Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg Dominic Cooper and Sam Catlin and received 538000 viewers The second installment aired following the Preacher season one finale on July 31 2016 with guests Rogen Goldberg and Ian Colletti and received 620000 viewers

The aftershow returned for the first two episodes of Preacher s second season with an installment airing directly after the second episode on June 26 2017 with guests Dominic Cooper Graham McTavish and Sam Catlin and received 441000 viewers A third episode aired following the second season finale which included guests Dominic Cooper Sam Catlin Ian Colletti and Pip Torrens and received 298000 viewers

Season 1 received largely positive reviews from critics Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the series an approval rating of 90 based on 62 reviews with an average rating of 766 10 The site s critical consensus states A thrilling celebration of the bizarre Preacher boasts enough gore glee and guile to make this visually stunning adaptation a must see for fans of the comic and newcomers alike Metacritic which uses a weighted average assigned the series a score of 76 out of 100 based on 37 critics indicating generally favorable reviews

Eric Goldman of IGN gave the pilot episode an 88 10 praising the Great mixture of comic and horror elements and the Excellent casting particularly praising Ruth Negga s Tulip

The second season received generally positive reviews from critics On Rotten Tomatoes the season has an approval rating of 90 based 22 reviews with an average rating of 758 10 The site s critical consensus states Preacher s sophomore season benefits from more focused storytelling without sacrificing any of its gorgeous violent insane fun On Metacritic it has a score of 76 out of 100 based on 9 critics indicating generally favorable reviews

The United States presidential line of succession is the order in which persons may become or act as President of the United States if the incumbent President becomes incapacitated dies resigns or is removed from office A President can be removed from office by impeachment by the House of Representatives and subsequent conviction by the Senate The line of succession is set by the United States Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 as subsequently amended to include newly created cabinet offices The succession follows the order of Vice President Speaker of the House of Representatives President pro tempore of the Senate and then the heads of federal executive departments who form the Cabinet of the United States which currently has fifteen members beginning with the Secretary of State Those heads of department who are ineligible to act as President are also ineligible to succeed the President by succession for example most commonly if they are not a natural born US citizen

Several constitutional law experts have raised questions as to the constitutionality of the provisions that the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate succeed to the presidency and in 2003 the Continuity of Government Commission raised a number of other issues with the current line of succession

The current presidential order of succession is as follows

Cabinet officers are in line according to the chronological order of their department s creation or the department of which their department is the successor the Department of Defense being successor to the Department of War and the Department of Health and Human Services being successor to the Department of Health Education and Welfare

To be eligible to serve as President a person must be a natural born US citizen at least 35 years of age and a resident within the United States for at least 14 years These eligibility requirements are specified both in the US Constitution Article II Section 1 Clause 5 and in the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 3 USC 19 e

Acting officers may be eligible In 2009 the Continuity of Government Commission a private nonpartisan think tank reported

The language in the current Presidential Succession Act is less clear than that of the 1886 Act with respect to Senate confirmation The 1886 Act refers to such officers as shall have been appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate to the office therein named The current act merely refers to officers appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate Read literally this means that the current act allows for acting secretaries to be in the line of succession as long as they are confirmed by the Senate for a post even for example the second or third in command within a department It is common for a second in command to become acting secretary when the secretary leaves office Though there is some dispute over this provision the language clearly permits acting secretaries to be placed in the line of succession We have spoken to acting secretaries who told us they had been placed in the line of succession

Two months after succeeding Franklin D Roosevelt President Harry S Truman proposed that the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate be granted priority in the line of succession over the Cabinet so as to ensure the President would not be able to appoint his successor to the Presidency

The Secretary of State and the other Cabinet officials are appointed by the President while the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate are elected officials The Speaker is chosen by the US House of Representatives and every Speaker has been a member of that body for the duration of their term as Speaker though this is not technically a requirement the President pro tempore is chosen by the US Senate and customarily the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service fills this position The Congress approved this change and inserted the Speaker and President pro tempore in line ahead of the members of the Cabinet in the order in which their positions were established

In his speech supporting the changes Truman noted that the House of Representatives is more likely to be in political agreement with the President and Vice President than the Senate The succession of a Republican to a Democratic Presidency would further complicate an already unstable political situation However when the changes to the succession were signed into law they placed Republican House Speaker Joseph W Martin first in the line of succession after the Vice President

Some of Truman s critics said that his ordering of the Speaker before the President pro tempore was motivated by his dislike of the then current holder of the latter rank Senator Kenneth McKellar Further motivation may have been provided by Truman s preference for House Speaker Sam Rayburn to be next in the line of succession rather than Secretary of State Edward R Stettinius Jr

The line of succession is mentioned in three places in the Constitution

Article II Section 1 of the United States Constitution provides that

In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death resignation or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office the same shall devolve on the Vice President until the disability be removed or a President elected

This originally left open the question whether the same refers to the said office or only the powers and duties of the said office Some historians including Edward Corwin and John D Feerick have argued that the framers intention was that the Vice President would remain Vice President while executing the powers and duties of the Presidency however there is also much evidence to the contrary the most compelling of which is Article I section 3 of the Constitution itself the relevant text of which reads

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided The Senate shall chuse sic their other officers and also a President pro tempore in the absence of the Vice President or when he shall exercise the office of President of the United States

This text appears to answer the hypothetical question of whether the office or merely the powers of the Presidency devolved upon the Vice President on his succession Thus the 25th Amendment merely restates and reaffirms the validity of existing precedent apart from adding new protocols for Presidential disability Not everyone agreed with this interpretation when it was first actually tested and it was left to Vice President John Tyler the first presidential successor in US history to establish the precedent that was respected in the absence of the 25th Amendment

Upon the death of President William Henry Harrison in 1841 and after a brief hesitation Tyler took the position that he was the President and not merely acting President upon taking the presidential oath of office However some contempories including John Quincy Adams Henry Clay and other members of Congress Whig party leaders and even Tyler s own cabinet believed that he was only acting as President and did not have the office itself

Nonetheless Tyler adhered to his position even returning unopened mail addressed to the Acting President of the United States sent by his detractors Tyler s view ultimately prevailed when the Senate voted to accept the title President and this precedent was followed thereafter The question was finally resolved by Section 1 of the 25th Amendment which specifies that In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation the Vice President shall become President The Amendment does not specify whether officers other than the Vice President can become President rather than Acting President in the same set of circumstances The Presidential Succession Act refers only to other officers acting as President rather than becoming President

The Presidential Succession Act of 1792 was the first succession law passed by Congress The act was contentious because the Federalists did not want the then Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson who had become the leader of the Democratic Republicans to follow the Vice President in the succession There were also separation of powers concerns over including the Chief Justice of the United States in the line The compromise they worked out established the President pro tempore of the Senate as next in line after the Vice President followed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives

In either case these officers were to act as President of the United States until the disability be removed or a president be elected The Act called for a special election to be held in November of the year in which dual vacancies occurred unless the vacancies occurred after the first Wednesday in October in which case the election would occur the following year or unless the vacancies occurred within the last year of the presidential term in which case the next election would take place as regularly scheduled The people elected President and Vice President in such a special election would have served a full four year term beginning on March 4 of the next year but no such election ever took place

In 1881 after the death of President Garfield and in 1885 after the death of Vice President Hendricks there had been no President pro tempore in office and as the new House of Representatives had yet to convene no Speaker either leaving no one at all in the line of succession after the vice president When Congress convened in December 1885 President Cleveland asked for a revision of the 1792 act which was passed in 1886 Congress replaced the President pro tempore and Speaker with officers of the President s Cabinet with the Secretary of State first in line In the first 100 years of the United States six former Secretaries of State had gone on to be elected President while only two congressional leaders had advanced to that office As a result changing the order of the line of succession seemed reasonable

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 signed into law by President Harry S Truman added the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore back in the line but switched the two from the 1792 order It remains the sequence used today Since the reorganization of the military in 1947 had merged the War Department which governed the Army with the Department of the Navy into the Department of Defense the Secretary of Defense took the place in the order of succession previously held by the Secretary of War The office of Secretary of the Navy which had existed as a Cabinet level position since 1798 had become subordinate to the Secretary of Defense in the military reorganization and so was dropped from the line of succession in the 1947 Succession Act

Until 1971 the Postmaster General the head of the Post Office Department was a member of the Cabinet initially the last in the presidential line of succession before new officers were added Once the Post Office Department was reorganized into the United States Postal Service a special agency independent of the executive branch the Postmaster General ceased to be a member of the Cabinet and was thus removed from the line of succession

The United States Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002 On March 9 2006 pursuant to the renewal of the Patriot Act as Pub L 109 177 the Secretary of Homeland Security was added to the line of succession The order of Cabinet members in the line has always been the same as the order in which their respective departments were established Despite custom many in Congress had wanted the Secretary to be placed at number eight on the list below the Attorney General above the Secretary of the Interior and in the position held by the Secretary of the Navy prior to the creation of the Secretary of Defense because the Secretary already in charge of disaster relief and security would presumably be more prepared to take over the presidency than some of the other Cabinet secretaries Despite this the 2006 law explicitly specifies that the Secretary of Homeland Security follows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the succession effectively at the end of the list

While nine Vice Presidents have succeeded to the office upon the death or resignation of the President and two Vice Presidents have temporarily served as acting President no other officer has ever been called upon to act as President On March 4 1849 President Zachary Taylor s term began but he declined to be sworn in on a Sunday citing religious beliefs and the Vice President was not sworn either As the last President pro tempore of the Senate David Rice Atchison was thought by some to be next in line after the Vice President and his tombstone claims that he was US President for the day However Atchison took no oath of office to the presidency either and his term as Senate President pro tempore had by then expired

In 1865 when Andrew Johnson assumed the Presidency on the death of Abraham Lincoln the office of Vice President became vacant At that time the Senate President pro tempore was next in line to the presidency In 1868 Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives and subjected to impeachment trial in the Senate and if he had been convicted and thereby removed from office Senate President pro tempore Benjamin Wade would have become acting President This posed a conflict of interest as Wade s own vote on removal could have helped to determine whether he would have assumed the presidential powers and duties

In his book The Shadow Presidents which he published in 1979 Michael Medved describes a situation that arose prior to the 1916 election when the First World War was raging in Europe In view of the current international turmoil President Woodrow Wilson thought that if he lost the election it would be better for his opponent to begin his administration straight away instead of waiting through the lame duck period which at that time had a duration of almost four months President Wilson and his aides formed a plan to exploit the rule of succession so that his rival Charles Evans Hughes could take over the Presidency as soon as the result of the election was clear The plan was that Wilson would appoint Hughes to the post of Secretary of State Wilson and his Vice President Thomas R Marshall would then resign and as the Secretary of State was at that time designated next in line of succession Hughes would become President immediately As it happened President Wilson won reelection so the plan was never put into action

Since the 25th Amendment s ratification its Second Section which addresses Vice Presidential succession as noted above has been invoked twice

During the 1973 Vice Presidential vacancy House Speaker Carl Albert was first in line As the Watergate scandal made President Nixon s removal or resignation possible Albert would have become Acting President and under Title 3 Section 19 c of the US Code would have been able to act as President until the expiration of the then current Presidential term on January 20 1977 Albert openly questioned whether it was appropriate for him a Democrat to assume the powers and duties of the presidency when there was a public mandate for the Presidency to be held by a Republican Albert announced that should he need to assume the Presidential powers and duties he would do so only as a caretaker However with the nomination and confirmation of Gerald Ford to the Vice Presidency which marked the first time the Second Section of the Twenty fifth Amendment was invoked these series of events were never tested Albert again became first in line during the first four months of Ford s Presidency before the confirmation of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller which marked the second time Section 2 of the Twenty fifth Amendment was invoked

In 1981 when President Ronald Reagan was shot Vice President George HW Bush was traveling in Texas Secretary of State Alexander Haig responded to a reporter s question regarding who was running the government by stating

Constitutionally gentlemen you have the President the Vice President and the Secretary of State in that order and should the President decide he wants to transfer the helm to the Vice President he will do so He has not done that As of now I am in control here in the White House pending return of the Vice President and in close touch with him If something came up I would check with him of course

A bitter dispute ensued over the meaning of Haig s remarks Most people believed that Haig was referring to the line of succession and erroneously claimed to have temporary Presidential authority due to his implied reference to the Constitution Haig and his supporters noting his familiarity with the line of succession from his time as White House Chief of Staff during Richard Nixon s resignation said he only meant that he was the highest ranking officer of the Executive branch on site managing things temporarily until the Vice President returned to Washington

Several constitutional law experts have raised questions as to the constitutionality of the provisions that the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate succeed to the presidency James Madison one of the authors of the Constitution raised similar constitutional questions about the Presidential Succession Act of 1792 in a 1792 letter to Edmund Pendleton Two of these issues can be summarized

In 2003 the Continuity of Government Commission suggested that the current law has at least seven significant issues that warrant attention specifically

State Bank of Bikaner Jaipur SBBJ in Hindi was a major Indian bank It was a subsidiary of State Bank of India with which it was merged in 2017 As of 2015 SBBJ had 1360 branches mostly located in the state of Rajasthan India Its branch network out of Rajasthan covers all the major business centers of India In 1997 the bank entered the capital market with an Initial Public Offering of 13 60000 shares at a premium of Rs 440 per share For the year 2015 16 the net profit of the company was 85060 Crore

State Bank of Bikaner Jaipur came into existence on 1963 when two banks namely State Bank of Bikaner established in 1944 and State Bank of Jaipur established in 1943 were merged Both these banks were subsidiaries of the State Bank of India under the State Bank of India Subsidiary Bank Act 1959

On 25 April 1966 SBBJ took over Govind Bank Private Ltd Mathura established on 8 February 1963

In 1984 SBBJ sponsored and established Ganganagar Kshetriya Gramin Bank as a Regional Rural Bank Thereafter in 1985 SBBJ opened the Bikaner Kshetriya Gramin Bank the second Regional Rural Bank sponsored by it The third Regional Rural Bank sponsored by SBBJ was Marwar Gramin Bank which covered the districts of Pali Jalore and Sirohi On 12 June 2006 SBBJ merged all three regional rural banks that it sponsored under the name MGB Gramin Bank with headquarters in Jodhpur

The plans to make SBI one of the top 50 banks in India affected SBBJ very much In 2016 the plan to merge SBBJ with its five cosubsidiaries was made and it was ratified by the Government of India on 15 February 2017 It finally merged with SBI on 31 March 2017

The Frat Pack is a nickname given to a group of comedy actors who have appeared together in many of the highest grossing comedy movies since the mid1990s The group is usually considered to include Ben Stiller Jack Black Owen Wilson Luke Wilson Will Ferrell Vince Vaughn and Steve Carell

The term was used by USA Today in a June 2004 story and was soon picked up by other media outlets Before USA Today dubbed this group the Frat Pack Entertainment Weekly had referred to them as the Slacker Pack having earlier coined the term Frat Pack to describe actors Leonardo DiCaprio Tobey Maguire Matt Damon Ben Affleck and Edward Norton who have done dramatic roles together By 2005 Entertainment Weekly had dropped the Slacker Pack term and followed suit referring to the aforementioned crop of actors as the Frat Pack

Recently the term has also been used to refer to the actors that have collaborated with director Judd Apatow like Seth Rogen Paul Rudd Jonah Hill Jay Baruchel Martin Starr Jason Segel Danny McBride and James Franco These members have been called the Apatow Chapter of the Frat Pack