The Toxic Avengers?

The lack of press and promotional screenings for The Avengers has led many critics and industry insiders to suspect that there may be something seriously wrong with the movie. Although it's been heavily promoted and advertised, no critics have yet seen it - and nobody will until it's released worldwide this Friday. Warner Bros. Don't agree, of course. "We've decided that we want the press and audiences to discover the movie together," said senior vice president Don Buckley, in an interview with the New York Post. Charlotte Kandel, head of worldwide publicity, said "We started to get very concerned [about] how this film will be received by people who hold The Avengers up as something so special. We do have a tremendously entertaining movie here, but everybody's going to say, 'Is it as good as the original Avengers?'' Or, 'Is it as cool as the original Avengers?' And, of course, it isn't. Nothing could be. But it is cool." Neither of the two stars are promoting the film; none of the cast attended Monday night's party at the Leopard Lounge and even the few low-grade celebrities who were there left early.