Having a two-part conclusion to a cinematic saga has been a growing trend for a while now. Kicked off in earnest byHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1(2010)andPart 2(2011), it has becoming increasingly common for big-budget, ‘tentpole’ franchises (especially those based on existing properties, like novels) to split up their final entries and release them as multiple features. While some of this can be attributed to the ‘final’ films often being so large and ambitious that they need multiple movies to fully tell their stories, there is a more obvious reason: greed.
Indeed, why would studios only release one film, when they could release two and double their profits, milking audiences for as much as they could? This practice becomes even more egregious whenfranchises likeThe Hobbitget in on the action. Despite the original novel only being 310 pages long, Peter Jackson managed to create three whole films out of this source material, stretching out the plot and filling the gaps with vacuous nonsense (why did he invent a dwarf-elf-elf love triangle and make it feature so prominently?). Really, a lot of fans had become fed-up with this newfound practice, once again having their loyalty and interests manipulated by avaricious studios. Nevertheless, they followed along, out of love for their favorite properties.
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But thenAvengers: Endgame(2019) was released, and attitudes changed. Following on from 2018’sAvengers: Infinity War, the film was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s two-part finale to the ‘Infinity Saga’ that had begun with 2009’sIron Man. Directly responding to the plot and events ofInfinity War, but also touching on all of the then-21 films of the MCU, the movie was a climactic resolution to the stories of countless characters and multiple franchises; it totally justified its own existence. Featuring thedeath of Iron Man, the defeat of Thanos,the retirement of Captain America, the reunification of the Avengers, and even the return of half of all life in the universe,Endgamedid not disappoint.
This was, of course, reflected in the critical and commercial response to the film. Receiving a rare ‘A+’ score from CinemaScore (a polling company that gauges audience responses to films) and 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as shattering records tobecome the highest-grossing movie of all time,Endgamesucceeded on every front.
However, this success comes at a cost:Endgamehas reframed what justifies a two-part finale in the eyes of the movie-going public. Now, two-part film finales can be ‘allowed’… but only if they reach the level ofEndgame. In this regard, the film has ruined the concept of the two-part finale as studios actually need to justify them, so they can’t be meaningless cash-grabs anymore.
Take the conclusion toLionsgate’sHunger Gamesseries for example. Split intoMockingjay: Part 1(2014) andMockingjay: Part 2(2015), this finale’s two-parter nature was widely criticized as being unnecessary, making both individual films suffer as a result. Due to the way the movies divided the source material’s plot,Part 1was full of character development but no action, andPart 2was full of action but no character development; it was totally unbalanced. Equally, because the original novel wasn’t long enough to justify two whole films (being only 390 pages long), the screenwriters once again invented new details to fill the bloated run-times, angering fans and undermining the social commentary of the series.
Conversely,Infinity WarandEndgamebalance their plot and action perfectly, delivering heartfelt character moments along with big-budget spectacle throughout both. In fact, the only criticism that could be levied at the films is that they are full to the brim: while theMockingjaymovies languished in being too long and bloated,Avengers3 and 4 had the exact opposite problem, offering too much. In a world where most two-part finales share the same problem as theHunger Games(theDeathly Hallowsfilms were also criticized for poorly dividing the plot), it’s rather refreshing thatInfinity WarandEndgamebreak the mold.
However, despite the new attitudes towards these two-part finales, they’re not going away any time soon. It was recentlyrevealed that both theMission ImpossibleandFast and Furiousfranchiseswould be ending with two-film finales, likely inspired by the box-office success ofEndgame. While it is, of course, easier for these films as they’re not fully based on any existing source material (i.e., unlikeHunger Games, they won’t struggle to translate a story from book to screen), there are some pertinent lessons they can learn fromEndgame.
First, make sure the two films are balanced in terms of action and plot (don’t front-load the character stuff!). Second, justify the existence of the second film relative to the first (let each film exist in its own right). And, lastly, if the film is going to be over 90 minutes long, then it needs to be full to the brim and not a bloated mess. Hopefully, if future franchises take these lessons to heart,Endgamewon’t have ruined the two-part finale format; it will have improved it.
