What’s Our Endgame?

On television, Game of Thrones’ Battle of Winterfell and in theaters, the release of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame made this weekend arguably the biggest pop culture weekend in modern history.^[1][2] But even the most popular television show in HBO history, boasting an average of 31 million viewers per episode during its last season, cannot compete against Marvel’s latest juggernaut.^[3][4] Within 24 hours, the long anticipated Game of Thrones season 8 trailer was viewed 81 million times, shattering HBO’s previous record which was also held by Game of Thrones.^[5][6][7] However, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame obliterated all records with 289 million views of its trailer in a single day.^[8][9]10]

Pre-ticket sales for Endgame “broke the internet,” crashing the web’s largest ticket venues^[11] with more tickets sold at Atom Tickets than Avengers: Infinity War, The Last Jedi, Aquaman, and Captain Marvel combined.^[12] Within six hours, Endgame became the largest first-day ticket seller in Fandango’s history.^[13] Likewise, China set a new ticket sales record, with Endgame becoming the first film in China to sell 1 million advanced tickets in six hours, and having outsold in a mere three hours the first seven days’ worth of advanced tickets sold for Avengers: Infinity War.^[14]

Desperate to be a part of the pop culture phenomena and to learn the fate of beloved heroes, some fans purchased tickets on E-bay for as much as $2,499.^[15] This level of devotion resulted in the movie opening in a record 4,662 theaters in North America.^[16] Across the nation, theaters pushed aside recently released movies in order to show Endgame on multiple screens, and some theaters even played the film around-the-clock, remaining open 24-hours a day throughout the weekend.^[17][18]

The result was astronomical with Endgame debuting at a record $156.7 million on its first day, $350 million domestically over its opening weekend, and $1.2 billion globally.^[19] It obliterated even the most optimistic projections,^[20][21] earning $100 million more than its prequel, Avengers: Infinity War, on its opening weekend.^[22][23]

The numbers for Endgame continue to come, but they have already steamrolled over 144 box office records.^[24] Accord to The Wrap, these include:

• 12 advanced ticket sale records
• 44 opening weekend records
• 29 single day grossing records
• Highest global opening for IMAX and 3D formats
• 50 IMAX opening weekend records
• Fastest to $100, $200, and $300 million domestic^[25] and $1 billion worldwide
• Largest Thursday preview
• Largest wide opening per screen average
• Largest combined domestic weekend of all time
• Largest overseas opening of all time
• Largest global opening of all time^[26]

As the culmination of an 11-year and 22-movie story arch, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame is truly a cultural phenomenon that has captured the hearts and imaginations of people throughout our country, regardless of demographic or religious affiliation.^[27] Indeed, countless Christians are numbered among the anticipating Marvel fans who have talked incessantly about this film for the last year, posting comments like “Suuuuper excited!!! No words can desirbe [sic] my excitement woohoo!! XD” and “I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”^[28]

One can’t help but wonder where this level of excitement and devotion among Christians was for another recently released movie. Unplanned told the true story of Planned Parenthood’s youngest clinic director turned pro-life activist.^[29] The movie is a powerful reminder that “all children, born and unborn, deserve our love.”^[30] Abby Johnson, upon whose testimony the movie is based, said of the film, “No one will be able to walk away after seeing this movie and say, ‘I didn’t know.”^[31]

Filmed in secret to avoid generating blowback,^[32] and opening in only 1,059 theaters,^[33] Unplanned faced technological censorship according to the film’s writer and director Chuck Konzelman’s testimony to Congress.^[34] It struggled to make itself known when its commercials were rejected by major television channels such as Lifetime, the Hallmark Channel, and HGTV as well as many Christian radio stations.^[35] Furthermore, the movie’s Twitter account was temporarily suspended on Saturday during its opening weekend.^[36] The next day, the account mysteriously lost most of its followers, plummeting from 100,000 followers to 151 in a matter of hours.^[37] Users who subscribed were automatically made to unfollow when they refreshed their feed.^[38][39]

Beyond this, Unplanned was given an R-rating because of “some disturbing/bloody images” of aborted babies.^[40] Unlike the PG-13 Endgame, which portrays the decapitation of a villain, “UNPLANNED is an ‘R’ rated film which has no MPAA cautions for profanity, nudity, sex or violence … except for violence directly associated with the abortion process,” the movie’s directors told Movieguide.^[41] This too limited where the movie could be promoted.

Despite these hurdles, Unplanned doubled its box-office earnings, ranking fourth in a lineup that included the behemoths, Dumbo, Us, and Captain Marvel.^[42][43] Nevertheless, it only earned $6.38 million in its opening weekend and $17.74 million after 31 days.^[44] Impressive as this may be for a censored Christian film showing in limited theaters nationwide, these numbers are a joke when compared to the pop culture phenomenon Avengers: Endgame which grossed $156.7 million in a single day.

According to a Pew Research Center report, “About six-in-ten white Evangelical Protestants (61%) think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases,” and among Catholics, “42% say it should be illegal.”^[45] Given that nearly half (46.2%) of all Americans self-identify as Catholic or Evangelical, according to the Pew Research Center, the potential support for Unplanned is enormous. It should have been sufficient to set its own records, and even to rival the domestic box office earnings of Endgame. Where then were God’s people?

Unplanned is no ordinary Christian film. The movie’s director, Chuck Konzelman, testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that only 10 days after the movie’s release, 94 abortion workers had already approached Abby Johnson’s organization And Then There Were None which transitions workers out of the abortion industry. According to Konzelman, this constitutes roughly 1% of the abortion workers in our nation, and they are seeking help to leave the industry.^[46][47][48]

Moreover, this powerful glimpse into the inner workings of Planned Parenthood and the appalling nature of abortion arrived at the peak of a national debate on the subject. Several states were seeking radical expansions to their abortion laws. The New York legislature had just given a standing ovation to the passing of a bill that made abortion at any stage legal and that repealed a state law protecting newborns who are born alive during a failed abortion.^[49][50] The U.S. Senate had just failed to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.^[51][52] And Virginia Governor Ralph Northam had just said that only a mother and her doctor should be permitted to determine whether to provide medical care to a baby born alive after a failed abortion.^[53][54][55]

Shockingly, God’s people were largely silent throughout this entire debate. Clearly, we have lost sight of our endgame. As such, perhaps it is not surprising that so few Christians chose to support the movie Unplanned in its efforts to expose people to the truth and to compel serious consideration and debate on the subject of abortion. But this begs the question, “If we are not willing even to go watch a movie in order to support the cause for life, then how can we ever expect to see real change in our country?” There is perhaps no easier form of activism than to sit and watch a movie, and yet far too many of God’s people have proven to be unwilling even to do this.

Ironically, the plot of Avengers: Endgame centers around the efforts of superheroes to protect the innocent and to preserve life. As Christians, we are happy to entertain ourselves by watching others heroically step up to defend life, even as we ourselves are unwilling even to endure the discomfort of watching a disturbing movie to defend life. Something is seriously wrong! We’ve lost sight of our goal. And until we are willing to face our hypocrisy and our apathy, nothing will change.