title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico, to Rosa María (née Marcano), a seamstress, and Francisco José "Paco" Alverío, a farmer. She was nicknamed "Rosita". Moreno, whose mother was 17 at the time of her birth, was raised in nearby Juncos. Her maternal grandparents were Justino Marcano (b. Puerto Rico) and Trinidad from Spain. Moreno's mother moved to New York City in 1936, taking her daughter, but not her son, Moreno's younger brother, Francisco, whom Moreno would not see again until 2021. Moreno adopted the surname of her first stepfather, Edward Moreno, Rosa Maria's second husband. She spent her teenage years living in the villages of Valley Stream on Long Island, part of the town of Hempstead bordering New York City.


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno began her first dancing lessons soon after arriving in New York with a Spanish dancer known as "Paco Cansino", who was a paternal uncle of film star Rita Hayworth. When she was 11 years old, she lent her voice to Spanish-language versions of American films. She had her first Broadway role, as "Angelina" in "Skydrift", by the age of 13, which caught the attention of Hollywood talent scouts.


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno's film career began in the later years of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Moreno and her mother moved to a Culver City "cottage" within walking distance of MGM. She acted steadily in films throughout the 1950s, usually in small roles, including in "The Toast of New Orleans" (1950) In 1952, she appeared in Stanley Donen's musical comedy film "Singin' in the Rain" alongside Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor. In the film she played silent film star Zelda Zanders. She described having gotten the role by Gene Kelly "wanting her in the movie" and that she "seemed to fit the role for him". Moreno praised Kelly for casting her in a non-stereotypical Hispanic role playing Zelda saying, "he never said 'Oh she's too Latina', he just thought I'd be fine for it". She called the experience working in the film as an "amazing experience" and a "privilege".


title: Rita Moreno

text: In March 1954, Moreno was featured on the cover of "Life" magazine with the caption "Rita Moreno: An Actress's Catalog of Sex and Innocence".


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno disliked most of her film work during this period, as she felt the roles she was given were very stereotypical. One exception was her supporting role in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The King and I" directed by Walter Lang. In the film she played Tuptim, a slave brought from Burma to be one of the King's junior wives. She starred alongside Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. The film was a critical and financial success. It received nine Academy Award nominations including five wins including Best Actor, Best Art Direction - Color, Best Costume Design - Color, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Recording.


title: Rita Moreno

text: In 1959, Moreno appeared as Lola Montez in Season 3, Episode 23, of the TV western "Tales of Wells Fargo", episode title "Lola Montez".


title: Rita Moreno

text: In 1961, Moreno landed the role of Anita in Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein's and Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking Broadway musical "West Side Story", which had been played by Chita Rivera on Broadway. Moreno won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for that role.


title: Rita Moreno

text: After winning the Oscar, Moreno thought she would be able to continue to perform less stereotypical film roles, but was disappointed:


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno had a major role in "Summer and Smoke" (1961), released soon after "West Side Story". She did appear in one film during her self-imposed exile from Hollywood – "Cry of Battle" (1963) – although it had been filmed directly before and after she won the Academy Award.


title: Rita Moreno

text: She made her return to film in "The Night of the Following Day" (1968) with Marlon Brando, and followed that with "Popi" (1969), and "Marlowe" (1969) with James Garner.


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno's Broadway credits include "Last of the Red Hot Lovers" (1969), the very short-lived musical "Gantry" (1970), and "The Ritz", for which she won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress. She appeared in the female version of "The Odd Couple" that ran in Chicago, for which she won the Sarah Siddons Award in 1985.


title: Rita Moreno

text: From 1971 to 1977, Moreno was a main cast member on the PBS children's series "The Electric Company". She screamed the show's opening line, "Hey, you guys!" Her roles on the show included Millie the Helper, the naughty little girl Pandora, and Otto, a very short-tempered director. Moreno also starred in Mike Nichols' "Carnal Knowledge" (1971) alongside Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret, and Art Garfunkel. In the film she plays a prostitute named Louise, whom Jack Nicholson plays cards with. The film was a critical success. In 1976 she starred as Googie Gomez in Richard Lester's film adaptation of the comedy farce "The Ritz" alongside Jack Weston, Jerry Stiller, and F. Murray Abraham. Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that the film made the transition from the stage "surprisingly well, given the odds," with "two of the most flamboyantly entertaining and skillful comedy performances of the year" by Jack Weston and Rita Moreno.


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno's appearance on "The Muppet Show" earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program in 1977. As a result, she became the third person (after Richard Rodgers and Helen Hayes) to have won an Oscar (1962), a Grammy (1972), a Tony (1975), and an Emmy (1977), frequently referred to as an "EGOT". She won another Emmy award the following year, 1978, this time a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series, for her portrayal of former call girl Rita Kapcovic on a three-episode arc on "The Rockford Files".


title: Rita Moreno

text: In the 1980s Moreno starred as Lucille in Richard Benner's comedy-drama film "Happy Birthday, Gemini" alongside Madeline Kahn. She was in Alan Alda's "The Four Seasons" (1981) which was a financial and critical hit and starred Alda, Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, and Jack Weston. She was a regular on the three-season network run of "9 to 5", a sitcom based on the film hit, during the early 1980s. Rita Moreno has made numerous guest appearances on television series in the 1980s, including "The Love Boat", "The Cosby Show", "George Lopez", "The Golden Girls", and "Miami Vice".


title: Rita Moreno

text: In 1993, she was invited to perform at President Bill Clinton's inauguration and later that month was asked to perform at the White House.


title: Rita Moreno

text: During the mid-1990s, Moreno provided the voice of Carmen Sandiego on Fox's animated series "Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?" In the franchise's 2019 animated series, Moreno voices the character Cookie Booker. In the late 1990s, Moreno played Sister Pete, a nun trained as a psychologist in the popular HBO series "Oz", for which she won several ALMA Awards. She made a guest appearance on "The Nanny" as Coach Stone, Maggie's tyrannical gym teacher, whom Fran Fine also remembered from her school as Ms. Wickavich.


title: Rita Moreno

text: She released an eponymous album of nightclub songs in 2000 on the Varèse Sarabande label, with liner notes by Michael Feinstein.


title: Rita Moreno

text: In 2006, she portrayed Amanda Wingfield in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's revival of "The Glass Menagerie".


title: Rita Moreno

text: She had a recurring role on "" as the dying mother of Detective Robert Goren. She played the family matriarch on the short-lived 2007 TV series "Cane", which starred Jimmy Smits and Hector Elizondo. She played the mother of Fran Drescher's character in the 2011–13 TV sitcom "Happily Divorced".


title: Rita Moreno

text: Since then, she has continued to work in film, including a small voice role in the 2014 film "Rio 2", perhaps her most commercially successful film. In September 2011, Moreno began performing a solo autobiographical show at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, "Rita Moreno: Life Without Makeup" written by the theatre's artistic director Tony Taccone after hours of interviews with Moreno. In 2014, Moreno appeared in the NBC television film "Old Soul", alongside Natasha Lyonne, Fred Willard and Ellen Burstyn. The film was intended as a pilot for a television series, but it was not picked up.


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno plays the matriarch of a Cuban-American family in the Netflix sitcom "One Day at a Time", a remake produced by Norman Lear of Lear's 1975–84 sitcom. The first season premiered in January 2017. Critics overall praised the show, and especially the performances of Moreno and the series' star, Justina Machado. Also that year, Moreno and others contributed to Lin-Manuel Miranda's single "Almost Like Praying" where proceeds from the song went to the Hispanic Federation's UNIDOS Disaster Relief program to benefit those affected by Hurricane Maria that devastated the island of Puerto Rico.


title: Rita Moreno

text: In 2020–21, Moreno starred in and executive-produced the Steven Spielberg–directed adaptation of "West Side Story". Moreno plays a newly created character, Valentina; she famously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Anita in the 1961 original movie. The film was released on December 10, 2021. Justin Chang of "NPR" wrote, "Sixty years later, Moreno is an executive producer on Spielberg's West Side Story. She also gives a poignant performance in the new role of Valentina, the widow of Doc, the drugstore owner. By her presence, Moreno teaches us how to approach this movie, as both an affectionate tribute and a gentle corrective."


title: Rita Moreno

text: On August 29, 2021, Moreno took part in the ""Wicked" in Concert" special on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App, performing "The Wizard and I".


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno's life was profiled in the feature documentary entitled "" which was produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews. "The Guardian" declared, "Overall, she emerges just as vampish, feisty and fun as you’d expect, and as a gracious giver of speeches at ceremonies where she collects endless lifetime achievement awards".


title: Rita Moreno

text: From 1954 to 1962, Moreno was in an on-and-off relationship with Marlon Brando. She revealed in her memoir that she became pregnant by Brando and he arranged for an abortion. The abortion was botched, she went home and bled as the fetus died inside her and she had to be rushed to the hospital to have it surgically removed. Soon after, Brando fell in love with his co-star on "Mutiny on the Bounty", yet returned to her, Moreno attempted suicide by overdosing on Brando's sleeping pills.


title: Rita Moreno

text: In 1965, Moreno married cardiologist and internist Leonard Gordon, who became her manager after he retired from medicine. In 1995, they relocated to Berkeley, California. They remained together until his death in 2010. Moreno and Gordon have one daughter, Fernanda Gordon Fisher, and two grandsons. Moreno said she once considered leaving her husband, but did not to avoid breaking up the family.


title: Rita Moreno

text: Moreno has achieved what is called the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Academy, Emmy and Tony awards for acting; as well as the EGOT.


title: Rita Moreno

text: In 1962, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for "West Side Story". In 1972, she received a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album for "The Electric Company". In 1975, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for "The Ritz". She won her Primetime Emmy Awards in 1977 and 1978 for her performances in "The Muppet Show" and "The Rockford Files", respectively.


title: Rita Moreno

text: She has also received a Golden Globe Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she was Inducted into the California Hall of Fame, 2007 In 2013, she received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award which was presented to her by Morgan Freeman.


title: Rita Moreno

text: She has won numerous other honors, including various lifetime achievement awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. In 2009, President Barack Obama presented her with the National Medal of Arts. In 2015, she was awarded a Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award for her contribution to American culture, through performing arts. She was awarded the Peabody Career Achievement Award in 2019.


title: Rita Moreno

text: In 2000, The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actresses (HOLA) renamed their Award for Excellence in her honor, known as the HOLA Rita Moreno Award for Excellence.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: Avengers: Age of Ultron is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to "The Avengers" (2012) and the 11th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Written and directed by Joss Whedon, the film features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Linda Cardellini, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the film, the Avengers fight Ultron, an artificial intelligence accidentally created by Tony Stark (Downey) and Bruce Banner (Ruffalo) with the goal of causing human extinction.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: The sequel was announced in May 2012 after the successful release of "The Avengers", with Whedon set to return as writer and director in August. Whedon updated Ultron's origin for the film to involve the MCU's Avengers team, and introduced the characters Pietro and Wanda Maximoff to whom Marvel shared the rights with 20th Century Fox. Casting began in June 2013 with the re-signing of Downey. Second unit filming began in February 2014 in South Africa with principal photography taking place between March and August, primarily at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England. Additional footage was filmed in Italy, South Korea, Bangladesh, the state of New York, and around England. With an estimated net production budget of $365 million, the film is the second most expensive film ever made.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" premiered in Los Angeles on April 13, 2015, and was released in the United States on May 1, 2015, as part of of the MCU. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2015 and the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time during its run. Two sequels have been released: "" (2018) and "" (2019).


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: In the Eastern European country of Sokovia, the Avengers—Tony Stark, Thor, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton—raid a Hydra facility commanded by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who has experimented on humans using the scepter previously wielded by Loki. They meet two of Strucker's test subjects—twins Pietro (who has superhuman speed) and Wanda Maximoff (who has telepathic and telekinetic abilities)—and apprehend Strucker, while Stark retrieves Loki's scepter.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: Stark and Banner discover an artificial intelligence within the scepter's gem, and secretly decide to use it to complete Stark's "Ultron" global defense program. The unexpectedly sentient Ultron, believing he must eradicate humanity to save Earth, eliminates Stark's A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. and attacks the Avengers at their headquarters. Escaping with the scepter, Ultron uses the resources in Strucker's Sokovia base to upgrade his rudimentary body and build an army of robot drones. Having killed Strucker, he recruits the Maximoffs, who hold Stark responsible for their parents' deaths by his company's weapons, and goes to the base of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue in Johannesburg to get vibranium. The Avengers attack Ultron and the Maximoffs, but Wanda subdues them with haunting visions, causing Banner to turn into the Hulk and rampage until Stark stops him with his anti-Hulk armor.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: A worldwide backlash over the resulting destruction, and the fears Wanda's hallucinations incited, send the team into hiding at Barton's farmhouse. Thor departs to consult with Dr. Erik Selvig on the apocalyptic future he saw in his hallucination, while Nick Fury arrives and encourages the team to form a plan to stop Ultron. In Seoul, Ultron uses Loki's scepter to enslave the team's friend Helen Cho. They use her synthetic-tissue technology, vibranium, and the scepter's gem to craft a new body. As Ultron uploads himself into the body, Wanda is able to read his mind; discovering his plan for human extinction, the Maximoffs turn against Ultron. Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton fight Ultron and retrieve the synthetic body, but Ultron captures Romanoff.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: The Avengers fight among themselves when Stark and Banner secretly upload J.A.R.V.I.S.—who is still working after hiding from Ultron inside the Internet—into the synthetic body. Thor returns to help activate the body, based on his vision that the gem on its brow is the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, the most powerful objects in existence. This "Vision" earns their trust by being worthy of lifting Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. Vision and the Maximoffs go with the Avengers to Sokovia, where Ultron has used the remaining vibranium to build a machine to lift a large part of the capital city skyward, intending to crash it into the ground to cause global extinction. Banner rescues Romanoff, who awakens the Hulk for the battle. The Avengers fight Ultron's army while Fury arrives in a Helicarrier with Maria Hill, James Rhodes, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to evacuate civilians. Pietro dies when he shields Barton from gunfire, and a vengeful Wanda abandons her post to destroy Ultron's primary body, which allows one of his drones to activate the machine. The city plummets, but Stark and Thor overload the machine and shatter the landmass. In the aftermath, the Hulk, unwilling to endanger Romanoff by being with her, departs in a Quinjet, while Vision confronts and destroys Ultron's last remaining body.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: Later, with the Avengers having established a new base run by Fury, Hill, Cho, and Selvig, Thor returns to Asgard to learn more about the forces he suspects have manipulated major events. As Stark leaves and Barton retires, Rogers and Romanoff prepare to train new Avengers: Rhodes, Vision, Sam Wilson, and Wanda.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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". Claudia Kim portrays Helen Cho, a world-renowned geneticist who helps the Avengers from her office in Seoul; Andy Serkis portrays Ulysses Klaue, a South-African black-market arms dealer, smuggler and gangster who is a former acquaintance from Stark's weapons-dealing days; and Julie Delpy appears as Madame B., who mentored Black Widow into becoming an assassin. Kerry Condon voices the artificial intelligence F.R.I.D.A.Y., a replacement for J.A.R.V.I.S., while Spader also voices Stark's Iron Legion droids. Josh Brolin makes an uncredited appearance during the mid-credits scene as Thanos, reprising his role from "Guardians of the Galaxy" (2014). Avengers co-creator 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: In October 2011, Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios said the studio was beginning to look at their 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 more small, personal, and painful; that is "not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time", and with a theme full of originality 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".


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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".


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 S.H.I.E.L.D.", for ABC. Later in the month, Disney set a May 1, 2015, release date. Whedon said his return for a sequel "wasn't a tough decision"; he thought it was "not going to happen", but realized he "desperately wanted to say more about these characters" when he started considering it. Whedon said that they intended for the film's production to not be as rushed as the first one.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: In December 2012, Whedon stated that he had completed an outline for the film. In March 2013, Whedon said that he looked to "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and "The Godfather Part II" (1974) as inspirations.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: Feige revealed that Captain Marvel, who starred 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 didn't feel like the time. We didn't 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 Headquarters 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 "" (2017), in which the Hulk does end up leaving Earth.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 that "their powers are very visually interesting", with problems which Whedon "had on the first one" for strong powers; those powers are superspeed, and spells and telekinesis, respectively, which "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, which do not like the United States and the Avengers, and "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." Because Marvel Studios shared the film rights to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch with 20th Century Fox and had to avoid conflict with Fox's "X-Men" 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 explained that Iron Man is a technology-based hero, and his films are always based on those; Thor is a fantasy-based hero introduced in the 2011 film of the same name, which also introduces Asgard, a fantastical realm in "the more reality-based MCU"; and finally, Ultron is "clearly [...] come[s] out of technology," using tools that established in the franchise to construct "Age of Ultron" storyline.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 J.A.R.V.I.S. in previous MCU films, was cast as the Vision. Whedon said "juggling" all the characters in the film was "a nightmare"; he explained: "They're very disparate characters. The joy of the Avengers is they really don't belong in the same room. It's not like the X-Men, 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."


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 Verrès. 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 mid-February. 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 mid-March, 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, such as Cheongdam Bridge, Digital Media City, Gangnam Boulevard and road near Kaywon University of Art and Design in Uiwang. 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 the state of New York. On August 6, Whedon announced on Twitter that he had completed principal photography on "Avengers: Age of Ultron". Disney spent $330.6 million on "Avengers: Age of Ultron" from February 2013 to November 2014, but $50.7 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 $444 million, with a net of $365 million for "Avengers: Age of Ultron". This makes the film the second most expensive film ever made.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 weren't locked into that choice from the start. What wasn't 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 many 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 ultra-high-speed camera and later combined with shots of Taylor-Johnson moving through the same scene at normal speed.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 Skarsgård, 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 "didn't 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 post-credits scene, which had become customary for MCU films. Whedon tried to come up with a post-credit scene but felt that he could not top the "Shawarma scene" in "The Avengers", explaining, "It didn't 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. Don't do the Indiana Jones gun trick again differently. Just go somewhere else. Don't 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––credit scene."


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 but the final version is shorter as test audiences did not respond well to the original cut. 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: The film contains 3,000 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 post-production but were actually working screens on set, adding to the realism of the film and saving some on the post-production 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: Brian Tyler signed on to compose the film's score in March 2014. He replaced Alan Silvestri, who composed the score for the first film, and Tyler's hiring marked his third collaboration with Marvel following "Iron Man 3" and "Thor: The Dark World" in 2013. Tyler said the score would pay homage to John Williams' music for "Star Wars" (1977), "Superman" (1978), and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) while referencing 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, reprising 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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, "", 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. As with previous films, Audi provided several vehicles for "Age of Ultron" and commercials promoting these vehicles. 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 social media mentions at the convention, following "" (2016), but had a higher intend-to-see response.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: The first trailer was scheduled to premiere during the airing of an episode of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." 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 34.3 million global views in 24 hours, 26.2 million from Marvel's YouTube channel, which broke the previous record held by "Iron Man 3" with 23.14 million views. In comparison, the original "Avengers" teaser received 20.4 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 S.H.I.E.L.D." 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: In November 2014, ABC aired another one-hour television special titled "", 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. That same month, ABC announced that an episode of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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."


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: On February 3, 2015, Marvel "stealth released" a one-shot digital-only 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 McMillan 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 McMillan's observations, and called the poster "hilariously photoshopped".


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 don't already know" adding, "Here we have the fourth and final "Avengers: Age of Ultron" trailer and we don't 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 $26.9 million on television advertisements for the film, from an estimated total marketing budget of $180 million.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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" (2011) 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. A virtual pinball table based on the film was released in April 2015 by Zen Studios.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" had 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 releasing on May 1 in the United States, in 3D and IMAX 3D. In the United States, the film opened in 4,276 theaters, including 2,761 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 47.7% 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." "Avengers: Age of Ultron" is part of of the MCU.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: On March 4, 2015, ticket pre-sales 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on digital download on September 8, and on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD on October 2. 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 "", which includes all of the Phase Two films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and was released on December 8. 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. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film on Ultra HD Blu-ray on August 14, 2018.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: In September 2014, TNT acquired the US cable broadcast rights, for broadcast two years after its theatrical release.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" grossed $459 million in the United States and Canada, and $943.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.403 billion, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film at the time and the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2015. "Avengers: Age of Ultron"s worldwide opening of $392.5 million was the seventh-largest ever. The film set a worldwide IMAX opening-weekend record with $25.2 million (previously held by "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012)) 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 Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. "Deadline Hollywood" calculated the film's net profit as $382.32 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it fourth on their list of 2015's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" earned $84.46 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" (2011) ($91.7 million). The film's Friday gross included $27.6 million from Thursday night, which began at 7 p.m., and was the sixth-highest ever for Thursday preview earnings and the highest among Marvel films. The film totaled $191.3 million in its opening weekend, the third-highest gross behind "Jurassic World" (2015) ($208.8 million) and "The Avengers" ($207.4 million). It also saw the second-highest IMAX opening weekend total with $18 million (behind "The Dark Knight Rises"), a record $13.5 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" (2007)). Of those in attendance the first weekend, 59% were male, 41% were female and 59% were over the age of 25.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: In its second weekend, the film fell 59%, earning $77.7 million, which was the second-biggest second weekend gross behind "The Avengers" $103 million (both were surpassed a month later by "Jurassic World"s $106.6 million). It holds the record for the second-biggest loss between first and second weekends with $113.6 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: "Avengers: Age of Ultron" earned $200.2 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 non-China international IMAX opening with $10.4 million. The top earning countries were South Korea ($28.2 million), the United Kingdom ($27.3 million), and Russia ($16.2 million). The film broke records in many countries, including opening-day records in Mexico ($6.8 million), the Philippines ($1.6 million), and Indonesia ($900,000); opening-weekend records in Mexico ($25.5 million), Russia and the CIS ($16.2 million), Hong Kong ($6.4 million), and the Philippines ($7.7 million); and highest opening weekend for a superhero film in the United Kingdom ($27.3 million), Germany ($9.3 million), Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: In the United Kingdom, where "Age of Ultron" was filmed, it earned $5.4 million on its opening day and $27.3 million during the weekend, setting an opening-weekend record for a superhero film, Marvel's biggest opening in Britain, the biggest April opening, and the eighth-biggest debut. It also set the best single-day earning for a Disney and superhero film with its $9.4 million haul on Saturday. In South Korea, also where part of the film was shot, the film earned $4.9 million on its opening day and $28.2 through the weekend. It held the record for advance-ticket sales rate, accounting for 96% of tickets reserved, breaking ""s (2011) record of 94.6% in 2011, the widest release ever, across 1,826 screens, also breaking "Dark of the Moon"s 1,420 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 $33.9 million, and the second-biggest six-day start with $156.3 million (behind "Furious 7" (2015)) of which $17.5 million came from IMAX theaters—the biggest ever. "Age of Ultron" also opened at number one in Japan in early July 2015 with $6.5 million, the highest opening weekend for an MCU release. , it is the ninth-highest-grossing film, and the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2015. Its largest markets were China ($240.1 million), the United Kingdom ($75.5 million), and South Korea ($72.3 million).


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of , with an average score of , based on 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." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100 based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and those at PostTrak gave the film a 90% overall positive score and a 79% recommend.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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 don't 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-a-half 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 doesn't 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 "RogerEbert.com" 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 O'Hara 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."


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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" doesn't always pop the way that the first one sometimes did, partly because its villain isn't 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."


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: 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.


title: Avengers: Age of Ultron

text: "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame" were directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. "Infinity War" was released on April 27, 2018, followed by "Endgame" on April 26, 2019. Much of the cast returns for the two films, with additional cast and characters joining from other MCU films.


title: Minions (film)

text: Minions is a 2015 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the spin-off/prequel and the third installment overall in the "Despicable Me" franchise. Directed by Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda (in Balda's directorial debut), produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, and written by Brian Lynch, it stars the voices of Coffin as the Minions (including Kevin, Stuart, and Bob), Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, Jennifer Saunders, and is narrated by Geoffrey Rush. It focuses on the Minions as they search for their new master.


title: Minions (film)

text: "Minions" debuted in London on June 11, 2015, and was released in the United States on July 10. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the animation, voice acting, and score, but criticized the character development and humor, which some called unfunny and inappropriate. It was a financial success at the box office, earning $1.159 billion worldwide, and became the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2015, the 10th-highest-grossing film of all time, the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time during its theatrical run, and is to date the highest-grossing animated film not released by Walt Disney Pictures. A sequel, "", was released in 2022.


title: Minions (film)

text: Minions are small, yellow pill-shaped creatures which have existed since the beginning of time, evolving from single-celled organisms into beings which exist only to serve history's most evil masters, but they accidentally end up killing all their masters: rolling a "T. rex" into a volcano, letting a caveman get eaten by a bear, crushing a Pharaoh to death with a pyramid, and exposing Count Dracula to sunlight. They are driven into isolation after firing a cannon at Napoleon while in Russia, and start a new life inside a cave, but after many years, the Minions become sad and unmotivated without a master to serve. However, three Minions named Kevin, Stuart and Bob decide to go out on a quest to find a new master.


title: Minions (film)

text: The three journey in 1968 to New York City, where they enter a department store for the night and stumble upon a hidden commercial broadcast advertising Villain-Con, a convention for all villains in Orlando. The next day, they manage to hitchhike a ride with the Nelsons, a family of thieves. At the convention, they meet Scarlet Overkill, the world's first female supervillain, who unexpectedly hires them and takes them to her home in London. They phone the rest of the Minions to get them to join. Scarlet plans to steal the Imperial State Crown from Queen Elizabeth II, promising to reward the Minions if they succeed, but also threatening to kill them if they fail.


title: Minions (film)

text: Scarlet's husband Herb supplies them with inventions to aid in the heist, but they are nearly caught while breaking into the Tower of London. During the subsequent chase, Bob slams into the Sword in the Stone and pulls the sword free to defend himself and his friends, removing the Queen from the throne and making Bob the new King. Enraged that someone else accomplished her dream of stealing the throne, Scarlet confronts Bob, who voluntarily abdicates the throne in her favor. Undeterred, Scarlet imprisons Kevin, Stuart and Bob in a dungeon, where Herb attempts to torture the trio, but they escape with the intention to apologize to Scarlet at her coronation.


title: Minions (film)

text: After making their way to Westminster Abbey, Kevin, Stuart and Bob interrupt the coronation by inadvertently dropping a chandelier on Scarlet. Mistaking the accident for an assassination attempt, Scarlet angrily orders the trio's execution and has other villains chase them through the streets of London during a thunderstorm. Stuart and Bob are captured, while Kevin hides in a pub and sees Scarlet on television, who declares that she will kill Stuart and Bob if Kevin does not show up by dawn. With the villains still searching for him, Kevin sneaks into Scarlet's castle to steal weapons and triggers a machine Herb was building, causing him to grow in size into a giant. Kevin tramples through London, rescues his friends, and battles Scarlet, just as the other Minions turn up in the city. Scarlet tries to eradicate them by firing a massive missile, but Kevin swallows it. Scarlet and Herb attempt to escape with her rocket dress, only for Kevin to hold onto it and get pulled into the sky. The missile explodes, seemingly killing Kevin, Scarlet, and Herb. As the Minions mourn the loss of their leader, Kevin survives as he returns to his normal size.


title: Minions (film)

text: The Queen gets her throne and crown back. She rewards Bob with a tiny crown for his teddy bear Tim, Stuart with an electric guitar, and Kevin with a knighthood. Scarlet and Herb, still alive, steal the crown again, only to be stopped by a young Gru, who fires a freeze ray at them and flees with the crown on a rocket-powered motorbike. The Minions, deciding Gru is the new master they were looking for, begin to follow him.


title: Minions (film)

text: Additionally, Steve Carell reprises his role as Gru, who appears at the end of the film in his younger form. Other cast members include Katy Mixon as Tina Nelson, Walter and Madge's thief daughter; Michael Beattie as Walter Nelson Jr., Walter and Madge's thief son (Beattie also voices a VNC announcer); Hiroyuki Sanada as Dumo, a sumo fighter villain; and Dave Rosenbaum as Fabrice, Scarlet's personal stylist.


title: Minions (film)

text: Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment first announced in July 2012, that the Minions from the franchise would get their own spin-off film, scheduled for a 2014 release. Brian Lynch was asked to write the film's screenplay, due to his prior work writing for the theme park ride Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. Pierre Coffin became director again with newcomer Kyle Balda as the co-director, marking the first film in the franchise where Chris Renaud is not a director. Eric Guillon returned for the film but was not an art director, as he was the character and production designer for the film.


title: Minions (film)

text: In February 2013, Sandra Bullock joined the cast to voice Scarlet Overkill, with Jon Hamm joining two months later as her husband Herb Overkill. In March 2015, Allison Janney was cast as Madge Nelson. Pierre Coffin, the film's director, reprised his role as the Minions. This is one of the films in the franchise in which Coffin is the sole actor and the first film where Chris Renaud doesn't serve as a director, but an executive producer. Kyle Balda served as a co-director along with Coffin. Jennifer Saunders was cast to voice Queen Elizabeth II.


title: Minions (film)

text: The official soundtrack for the film was released on July 10, 2015, by Back Lot Music. The soundtrack also features the film's original music, composed by Heitor Pereira.


title: Minions (film)

text: Bloomberg News estimated that Universal Pictures spent $593 million in ads and promotions for the film. Television advertisements were spent at $26.1 million. Universal described the film's promotional campaign as the "largest and most comprehensive" in its history. In April 2015, Pantone announced the creation of a new official Pantone color, 'Minion Yellow', in partnership with Illumination. A series of comics and graphic novels based on the film were published by Titan Comics and launched in June. McDonald's released a promotion for a toy set offered in their Happy Meals for the film between June and July.


title: Minions (film)

text: "Minions" premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on June 11, 2015, followed by a premiere on June 27, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The film was originally scheduled for general release on December 19, 2014, but it was pushed back to July 10, 2015, due to Universal's satisfaction with the successful release of "Despicable Me 2" (2013) and desire to exploit fully the merchandising potential of "Minions".


title: Minions (film)

text: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released "Minions" on Blu-ray and DVD on December 8, 2015. Physical copies contain three short films: "Cro Minion", "Competition", and "Binky Nelson Unpacified".


title: Minions (film)

text: "Minions" earned $336 million in the United States and Canada and $823.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.159 billion. It was the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2015, the 10th-highest-grossing film of all time, and the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time. On August 28, 2015, "Minions" passed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, becoming the third animated film to cross that milestone after "Toy Story 3" (2010) and "Frozen" (2013). "Deadline Hollywood" calculated the film's net profit as $502 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it second on their list of 2015's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".


title: Minions (film)

text: The film was released with "The Gallows" and "Self/less" on July 10, 2015. "Minions" earned $46 million on its first day, including $6.2 million from Thursday night previews. During its opening weekend, the film earned $115.2 million from 4,301 theaters, making it the second-highest opening weekend for an animated film, behind "Shrek the Third" (2007). Moreover, it had the largest opening weekend for a prequel, breaking the previous record held by "" (2005). Its second weekend earnings dropped by 57 percent to $50.2 million, and followed by another $22 million the third weekend. "Minions" completed its theatrical run in the United States and Canada on December 17, 2015.


title: Minions (film)

text: Worldwide, "Minions" debuted in 44 markets on June 18, 2015, and later a total of 66 countries by July 11. The film earned $12.5 million in its opening weekend from four countries, and in its second, "Minions" made $37.6 million in 10 markets. Its top international markets were the United Kingdom ($73.1 million), China ($63.47 million), and Germany ($63.46 million).


title: Minions (film)

text: "Minions" has an approval rating of based on professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of . Its critical consensus reads, "The Minions' brightly colored brand of gibberish-fueled insanity stretches to feature length in their self-titled "Despicable Me" spinoff, with uneven but often hilarious results." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned "Minions" a score of 56 out of 100 based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Minions (film)

text: Jesse Hassenger of "The A.V. Club" gave the film a C, saying ""Minions" has idiosyncratic roots, but it's a franchise play all the way. Finally, even 5-year-olds have their own movie that mechanically cashes in on something they loved when they were younger". Michael O'Sullivan of "The Washington Post" gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "I, too, once enjoyed the "Minions", in the small doses that they came in. But the extra-strength "Minions" is, for better or for worse, too much of a good thing". Brian Truitt of "USA Today" gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying, "Brian Lynch's screenplay features a series of amusing sight gags and physical comedy that mostly hits; watching the "Minions" play Polo while riding Corgis is an exercise in cuteness". Tom Russo of "The Boston Globe" gave the film two stars out of four, saying, "Impressive as it is that the filmmakers get so much comedic mileage out of their characters' half-intelligible prattling, the conventional dialogue is bafflingly flat". Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" said, "While "Minions" explores nominally new narrative ground, it folds neatly into a series that now includes two features, various shorts, books, video games, sheet music and a theme park attraction. So, you know, different but also the same".


title: Minions (film)

text: Tom Long of "The Detroit News" gave the film a B, saying ""Minions" is every bit as cute as it's supposed to be, a happily empty-headed animated frolic that rarely pauses to take a breath". Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film two stars out of four, saying, "It's not whether this prequel can mint money; that's a given. The questions is: Can the minions carry a movie all by their mischievous mini-selves? 'Fraid not". Kerry Lengel of "The Arizona Republic" gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying, "Despite the dizzying pace of carefully calibrated incongruities, "Minions" somehow never generates more than the occasional chuckle". Christopher Orr of "The Atlantic" said, "There's plenty of high-velocity comic inanity on display to keep kids happily diverted. But the movie's major flaw is an extension of its own premise: Search as they may, the minions never find a villain worthy of their subservience". Liam Lacey of "The Globe and Mail" gave the film two stars out of four, saying, "With its episodic stream of slapstick gags, "Minions" has moments of piquant absurdity, but mostly its shrill-but-cutesy anarchy works as a visual sugar rush for the preschool set".


title: Minions (film)

text: "Minions" was followed by "" (2022). In the film, an eleven-year-old Gru plans to become a supervillain with the help of his Minions, which leads to a showdown with a malevolent team, the Vicious 6.


title: T-Series (company)

text: Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited, doing business as T-Series, is an Indian music record label and film production company founded by Gulshan Kumar on 11 July 1983. It is primarily known for Bollywood music soundtracks and Indi-pop music. As of 2014, T-Series is India's largest music record label, with up to a 35% share of the Indian music market, followed by Sony Music India and Zee Music. T-Series also owns and operates the most-viewed and the most-subscribed YouTube channel, with over 225 million subscribers and 201billion total views While best known as a music label, T-Series has also had some moderate success as a film production company.


title: T-Series (company)

text: Kumar, initially a fruit juice seller in Delhi, founded T-Series to sell pirated Bollywood songs before the company eventually began producing new music. Their breakthrough came with the soundtrack for the 1988 Bollywood blockbuster "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak", composed by Anand–Milind, written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, and starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla, which became one of the best-selling Indian music albums of the 1980s, with over 8million sales. They eventually became a leading music label with the release of "Aashiqui" (1990), composed by Nadeem–Shravan, which sold 20million copies and became the best-selling Indian soundtrack album of all time. However, Gulshan Kumar was murdered by the Mumbai mafia syndicate D-Company on 12 August 1997. Since then, T-Series has been led by his son Bhushan Kumar and younger brother Krishan Kumar.


title: T-Series (company)

text: On YouTube, T-Series has a multi-channel network, with 30 channels (including Lahari Music) that have over 382.3 million subscribers as of 15 December 2021. The company's YouTube team consists of 13people at the T-Series headquarters. The company's main T-Series channel on YouTube primarily shows music videos as well as film trailers. It became the most-viewed YouTube channel in January 2017. The T-Series channel primarily features content in the Hindi language, and occasionally several other languages including Bhojpuri, Punjabi and English. T-Series also have other channels dedicated to content in several Indian languages including Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi and Rajasthani.


title: T-Series (company)

text: T-Series was founded on 11 July 1983 by Gulshan Kumar, at the time a fruit juice seller in the Daryaganj neighbourhood of Delhi. The company initially sold pirated Bollywood songs, prior to releasing original music. Back then, the Indian audio cassette market was small-scale, with widespread piracy, but there was growing demand for cassette music. According to "Rediff", while Kumar "was involved in piracy, he was passionately market- and consumer-driven." The company also took advantage of loopholes in copyright law allowing for the release of cover versions of songs, which T-Series would then flood the market with. Researchers Lawrence Liang and Ravi Sundaram wrote:


title: T-Series (company)

text: Kumar discovered that there was also a market for devotional music, and began recording and selling it. Kumar noticed that many elderly Hindu followers could not read hymns and chants because of failing eyesight, so Kumar hired singers to record the chants and sold them as cheap cassettes. Later, he filmed major Hindu pilgrimages in India and sold them on VHS and video cassette tapes.


title: T-Series (company)

text: T-Series' first original film soundtrack release was for "Lallu Ram" in 1984, with music scored by Ravindra Jain.


title: T-Series (company)

text: The company's breakthrough came when it released the soundtrack for the 1988 Bollywood blockbuster "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak" (also known as "QSQT"), directed by Mansoor Khan and starring Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla. The "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak" soundtrack, composed by Anand–Milind and written by Majrooh Sultanpuri, became the best-selling Indian soundtrack album of 1988 and one of the best-selling Indian soundtrack albums of the 1980s, with more than 8 million units sold. The biggest hit song from the album was "", sung by Udit Narayan and picturised on Aamir Khan. T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar soon played a key role in Bollywood's cassette boom of the late 1980s with his affordable T-Series albums.


title: T-Series (company)

text: T-Series later became a leading music label with the release of "Aashiqui" (1990), directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The "Aashiqui" film soundtrack album, composed by the duo Nadeem–Shravan, sold 20 million units in India, and is the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack album of all time. A cover version of "Dheere Dheere" from "Aashiqui" was later sung by Yo Yo Honey Singh and released by T-Series in 2015.


title: T-Series (company)

text: T-Series was largely responsible for sparking a boom for the Indian music industry in the early 1990s. Many of the best-selling Bollywood music albums of the 1990s, particularly those composed by Nadeem–Shravan, were released under the T-Series label. Besides music production, the company also began venturing into film production. The annual earnings of T-Series grew from () in 1985 to () in 1991, and by 1997 had reached ().


title: T-Series (company)

text: In 1997, T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar was murdered by the Mumbai mafia syndicate D-Company. His assassination also led to T-Series losing its most prolific musicians at the time, Nadeem–Shravan, due to Nadeem Akhtar Saifi initially being accused of involvement in the murder, before later being exonerated. After Gulshan Kumar's death in 1997, the company has since been led by his son Bhushan Kumar, with the help of Gulshan's younger brother Krishan Kumar.


title: T-Series (company)

text: As a film production company, T-Series has had some moderate success. The highest-grossing T-Series film production to date is the critically acclaimed sleeper hit "Hindi Medium" (2017), written by Zeenat Lakhani, directed by Saket Chaudhary, and starring Irrfan Khan and Saba Qamar. It grossed () worldwide, with in China alone, becoming one of the top 20 highest-grossing Indian films of all time. One of the most expensive Indian films was T-Series's "Saaho", a sci-fi thriller with a production budget of , released in 2019. T-Series is also producing a biopic film based on the life of its founder Gulshan Kumar, called "Mogul", which is currently under production and is scheduled for release in 2019.


title: T-Series (company)

text: T-Series joined YouTube on 13 March 2006, but only started uploading videos in late 2010. Under this channel, T-Series primarily shows music videos and film trailers. By July 2013, it had crossed 1 billion views, becoming the second Indian YouTube channel to cross the milestone after Rajshri Productions. In January 2017, T-Series surpassed PewDiePie to become the world's most-viewed YouTube channel, and as of July 2022 it has over 197 billion views. The T-Series YouTube channel is run by a team of 13people at the T-Series headquarters.


title: T-Series (company)

text: As of July 2022, T-Series has 221 million subscribers, making it the most-subscribed YouTube channel, exceeding the second-placed Cocomelon by 82 million. When it reached 50 million subscribers, the channel received a Custom Ruby Play Button on 10 September 2018. It is also the second channel ever to hit 70 million subscribers. On 29 May 2019, T-Series became the first channel to reach 100 million subscribers. In December 2021, T-Series became the first channel to reach 200 million subscribers. On average, T-Series has 66,000 daily subscribers.


title: T-Series (company)

text: T-Series channel also owns a multi-channel network, with 29 channels (excluding Lahari Music), which include YouTube channels such as T-Series Tamil, T-Series Telugu, Bollywood Classics, T-Series Kids Hut, T-Series Apna Punjab, T-Series Kannada, Shabad Gurbani, Health And Fitness, T-Series Bhakti Sagar (mainly dedicated to Hindu devotional music, and to a lesser extent Jain, Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist and Christian), Pop Chartbusters, T-Series Malayalam, T-Series Classics, T-Series Regional, hamaarbhojpuri, T-Series Gujarati, T-Series Marathi, T-Series Bhavageethegalu & Folk, Bhakti Sagar Telugu, Bhakti Sagar Tamil, Bhakti Sagar Malayalam, T-Series Bhakti Marathi, Bhakti Sagar Kannada, T-Series Islamic Music, T-Series Kids Hut-Portuguese Fairy Tales, T-Series Haryanvi, T-Series Kids Hut-Telugu Kathalu, T-Series Kids Hut-Cuentos en Español and T-Series Kids Hut Tamil. On top of this, seven of their channels are among the top 100 most-subscribed channels in India, including T-Series, Bhakti Sagar, Apna Punjab, Pop Chartbusters, Bollywood Classics, T-Series Regional, Lahari Music. T-Series' 29 channels accumulated a total of more than 184 million YouTube subscribers as of July 2019. During JanuaryJuly 2018, T-Series earned an income of from YouTube. Online revenue contributes to at least 60% of the company's overall revenue.


title: T-Series (company)

text: The most popular song on the T-Series channel is "Dilbar" (2018), an updated version of a 1999 song from "Sirf Tum" originally composed by Nadeem–Shravan, reinvisioned by Tanishk Bagchi with Middle-Eastern musical influences, and a music video featuring Arabic belly dancing from Moroccan-Canadian dancer Nora Fatehi. It has become one of the most popular Bollywood music videos of all time, with its international success inspiring an Arabic language version released by T-Series, also featuring Nora Fatehi. "Dilbar" is popular across South Asia and the Arab world, with all versions of the song having received more than 1billion views on YouTube. The most popular T-Series artist on YouTube is Punjabi language artist Guru Randhawa, whose song "Lahore" (2017) crossed 700 million views on YouTube. "Slowly Slowly", Guru Randhawa's collaboration with American rapper Pitbull released by T-Series, received 38million views within a day, becoming one of the most-viewed music videos in 24 hours.


title: T-Series (company)

text: The growth of T-Series' YouTube channel has been attributed to India's emerging online population. India currently has 500 million Internet users and this number is expected to grow rapidly. A major breakthrough in India's Internet growth came in September 2016 with the advent of 4G network Reliance Jio, offering data at very low costs. India has since emerged as the world's second-largest online population (behind China, where YouTube is blocked), with YouTube alone having over 225 million monthly Indian users. India's high demand for YouTube content and the lack of local content creators has contributed significantly to the rapid growth of T-Series.


title: T-Series (company)

text: The growth of T-Series is also attributed to its growing audience outside of India. About 40% of the channel's traffic comes from outside of India, including 12% from the United States. The majority of the channel's overseas viewers belong to the global South Asian diaspora. More recently, the channel's overseas viewership has increased further, as a result of attention and controversy drawn to the channel by foreign YouTubers such as PewDiePie and MrBeast. On 22 February 2019 at 6:04 AM, T-Series surpassed PewDiePie for the first time to become the most-subscribed YouTube channel, with PewDiePie regaining the spot 8 minutes later. T-Series overtook PewDiePie in a similar manner many more times over the following weeks, and on 27 March, finally gained and maintained, until 1 April, the top spot by a fluctuating, but overall growing, margin.


title: T-Series (company)

text: In November 2007, T-Series filed a lawsuit against YouTube for infringing on the copyright of its music by allowing users to upload videos of its music onto YouTube, which could be accessed for free, and obtained an interim order against YouTube from the Delhi High Court, which restrained YouTube from infringing on its copyrights. T-Series and YouTube settled out of court in January 2011.


title: T-Series (company)

text: In April 2019, after PewDiePie released two diss tracks against T-Series, "Congratulations" and "Bitch Lasagna", T-Series filed a complaint with the Delhi High Court to have the songs removed from YouTube, arguing that they were "defamatory, disparaging, insulting, and offensive". Despite Kjellberg's statement that these diss tracks were "done in good fun", the court issued a temporary injunction in favour of T-Series on 8 April 2019 and access to the diss tracks on YouTube was blocked in India. In August 2019, it was reported that T-Series and PewDiePie had settled their legal disputes outside of court.


title: T-Series (company)

text: The following notable musical artists have worked with T-Series and/or had music released under the T-Series label:


title: T-Series (company)

text: This is a list of soundtrack albums that were published under the T-Series label, excluding films that were also produced by T-Series (see "Production filmography" above). All information on the years of release of the albums has been/is being found with the help of Discogs and MySwar


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a hydroxyl group). Ethanol is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid with a characteristic wine-like odor and pungent taste. It is a psychoactive recreational drug, the active ingredient in alcoholic drinks.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol is naturally produced by the fermentation process of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration. It has medical applications as an antiseptic and disinfectant. It is used as a chemical solvent and in the synthesis of organic compounds, and as a fuel source. Ethanol also can be dehydrated to make ethylene, an important chemical feedstock. As of 2006, world production of ethanol was , coming mostly from Brazil and the U.S.


title: Ethanol

text: "Ethanol" is the systematic name defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry for a compound consisting of an alkyl group with two carbon atoms (prefix "eth-"), having a single bond between them (infix "-an-") and an attached functional group −OH group (suffix "-ol").


title: Ethanol

text: The "eth-" prefix and the qualifier "ethyl" in "ethyl alcohol" originally come from the name "ethyl" assigned in 1834 to the group − by Justus Liebig. He coined the word from the German name "Aether" of the compound −O− (commonly called "ether" in English, more specifically called "diethyl ether"). According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", "Ethyl" is a contraction of the Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (', "upper air") and the Greek word ὕλη (', "substance").


title: Ethanol

text: The name "ethanol" was coined as a result of a resolution on naming alcohols and phenols that was adopted at the International Conference on Chemical Nomenclature that was held in April 1892 in Geneva, Switzerland.


title: Ethanol

text: The term "alcohol" now refers to a wider class of substances in chemistry nomenclature, but in common parlance it remains the name of ethanol. It is a medieval loan from Arabic "al-kuḥl", a powdered ore of antimony used since antiquity as a cosmetic, and retained that meaning in Middle Latin. The use of 'alcohol' for ethanol (in full, "alcohol of wine") is modern and was first recorded in 1753. Before the late 18th century the term "alcohol" generally referred to any sublimated substance.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol is used in medical wipes and most commonly in antibacterial hand sanitizer gels as an antiseptic for its bactericidal and anti-fungal effects. Ethanol kills microorganisms by dissolving their membrane lipid bilayer and denaturing their proteins, and is effective against most bacteria, fungi and viruses. However, it is ineffective against bacterial spores, but that can be alleviated by using hydrogen peroxide. A solution of 70% ethanol is more effective than pure ethanol because ethanol relies on water molecules for optimal antimicrobial activity. Absolute ethanol may inactivate microbes without destroying them because the alcohol is unable to fully permeate the microbe's membrane. Ethanol can also be used as a disinfectant and antiseptic because it causes cell dehydration by disrupting the osmotic balance across the cell membrane, so water leaves the cell leading to cell death.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol may be administered as an antidote to ethylene glycol poisoning and methanol poisoning. Ethanol serves this process by acting as a competitive inhibitor against methanol and ethylene glycol for alcohol dehydrogenase. Though it has more side effects, ethanol is less expensive and more readily available than fomepizole, which is also used as an antidote for methanol and ethylene glycol poisoning.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol, often in high concentrations, is used to dissolve many water-insoluble medications and related compounds. Liquid preparations of pain medications, cough and cold medicines, and mouth washes, for example, may contain up to 25% ethanol and may need to be avoided in individuals with adverse reactions to ethanol such as alcohol-induced respiratory reactions. Ethanol is present mainly as an antimicrobial preservative in over 700 liquid preparations of medicine including acetaminophen, iron supplements, ranitidine, furosemide, mannitol, phenobarbital, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and over-the-counter cough medicine.


title: Ethanol

text: In mammals, ethanol is primarily metabolized in the liver and stomach by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzymes. These enzymes catalyze the oxidation of ethanol into acetaldehyde (ethanal):


title: Ethanol

text: When present in significant concentrations, this metabolism of ethanol is additionally aided by the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP2E1 in humans, while trace amounts are also metabolized by catalase.


title: Ethanol

text: The resulting intermediate, acetaldehyde, is a known carcinogen, and poses significantly greater toxicity in humans than ethanol itself. Many of the symptoms typically associated with alcohol intoxication—as well as many of the health hazards typically associated with the long-term consumption of ethanol—can be attributed to acetaldehyde toxicity in humans.


title: Ethanol

text: The subsequent oxidation of acetaldehyde into acetate is performed by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzymes. A mutation in the ALDH2 gene that encodes for an inactive or dysfunctional form of this enzyme affects roughly 50% of east Asian populations, contributing to the characteristic alcohol flush reaction that can cause temporary reddening of the skin as well as a number of related, and often unpleasant, symptoms of acetaldehyde toxicity. This mutation is typically accompanied by another mutation in the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme ADH1B in roughly 80% of east Asians, which improves the catalytic efficiency of converting ethanol into acetaldehyde.


title: Ethanol

text: As a central nervous system depressant, ethanol is one of the most commonly consumed psychoactive drugs.


title: Ethanol

text: Despite alcohol's psychoactive and carcinogenic properties, it is readily available and legal for sale in most countries. However, there are laws regulating the sale, exportation/importation, taxation, manufacturing, consumption, and possession of alcoholic beverages. The most common regulation is prohibition for minors.


title: Ethanol

text: The largest single use of ethanol is as an engine fuel and fuel additive. Brazil in particular relies heavily upon the use of ethanol as an engine fuel, due in part to its role as one of the world's leading producers of ethanol. Gasoline sold in Brazil contains at least 25% anhydrous ethanol. Hydrous ethanol (about 95% ethanol and 5% water) can be used as fuel in more than 90% of new gasoline-fueled cars sold in the country.


title: Ethanol

text: The US and many other countries primarily use E10 (10% ethanol, sometimes known as gasohol) and E85 (85% ethanol) ethanol/gasoline mixtures. Over time, it is believed that a material portion of the ≈ per year market for gasoline will begin to be replaced with fuel ethanol.


title: Ethanol

text: Australian law limits the use of pure ethanol from sugarcane waste to 10% in automobiles. Older cars (and vintage cars designed to use a slower burning fuel) should have the engine valves upgraded or replaced.


title: Ethanol

text: According to an industry advocacy group, ethanol as a fuel reduces harmful tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, and other ozone-forming pollutants. Argonne National Laboratory analyzed greenhouse gas emissions of many different engine and fuel combinations, and found that biodiesel/petrodiesel blend (B20) showed a reduction of 8%, conventional E85 ethanol blend a reduction of 17% and cellulosic ethanol 64%, compared with pure gasoline. Ethanol has a much greater research octane number (RON) than gasoline, meaning it is less prone to pre-ignition, allowing for better ignition advance which means more torque, and efficiency in addition to the lower carbon emissions.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol combustion in an internal combustion engine yields many of the products of incomplete combustion produced by gasoline and significantly larger amounts of formaldehyde and related species such as acetaldehyde. This leads to a significantly larger photochemical reactivity and more ground level ozone. This data has been assembled into The Clean Fuels Report comparison of fuel emissions and show that ethanol exhaust generates 2.14 times as much ozone as gasoline exhaust. When this is added into the custom "Localized Pollution Index (LPI)" of The Clean Fuels Report, the local pollution of ethanol (pollution that contributes to smog) is rated 1.7, where gasoline is 1.0 and higher numbers signify greater pollution. The California Air Resources Board formalized this issue in 2008 by recognizing control standards for formaldehydes as an emissions control group, much like the conventional NOx and Reactive Organic Gases (ROGs).


title: Ethanol

text: More than 20% of Brazilian cars are able to use 100% ethanol as fuel, which includes ethanol-only engines and flex-fuel engines. Flex-fuel engines in Brazil are able to work with all ethanol, all gasoline or any mixture of both. In the U.S. flex-fuel vehicles can run on 0% to 85% ethanol (15% gasoline) since higher ethanol blends are not yet allowed or efficient. Brazil supports this fleet of ethanol-burning automobiles with large national infrastructure that produces ethanol from domestically grown sugarcane.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol's high miscibility with water makes it unsuitable for shipping through modern pipelines like liquid hydrocarbons. Mechanics have seen increased cases of damage to small engines (in particular, the carburetor) and attribute the damage to the increased water retention by ethanol in fuel.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol was commonly used as fuel in early bipropellant rocket (liquid-propelled) vehicles, in conjunction with an oxidizer such as liquid oxygen. The German A-4 ballistic rocket of World War II (better known by its propaganda name ), which is credited as having begun the space age, used ethanol as the main constituent of "B-Stoff". Under such nomenclature, the ethanol was mixed with 25% water to reduce the combustion chamber temperature. The design team helped develop U.S. rockets following World War II, including the ethanol-fueled Redstone rocket which launched the first U.S. satellite. Alcohols fell into general disuse as more energy-dense rocket fuels were developed, although ethanol is currently used in lightweight rocket-powered racing aircraft.


title: Ethanol

text: Commercial fuel cells operate on reformed natural gas, hydrogen or methanol. Ethanol is an attractive alternative due to its wide availability, low cost, high purity and low toxicity. There is a wide range of fuel cell concepts that have entered trials including direct-ethanol fuel cells, auto-thermal reforming systems and thermally integrated systems. The majority of work is being conducted at a research level although there are a number of organizations at the beginning of the commercialization of ethanol fuel cells.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol fireplaces can be used for home heating or for decoration. Ethanol can also be used as stove fuel for cooking.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol is an important industrial ingredient. It has widespread use as a precursor for other organic compounds such as ethyl halides, ethyl esters, diethyl ether, acetic acid, and ethyl amines.


title: Ethanol

text: Ethanol is considered a universal solvent, as its molecular structure allows for the dissolving of both polar, hydrophilic and nonpolar, hydrophobic compounds. As ethanol also has a low boiling point, it is easy to remove from a solution that has been used to dissolve other compounds, making it a popular extracting agent for botanical oils. Cannabis oil extraction methods often use ethanol as an extraction solvent, and also as a post-processing solvent to remove oils, waxes, and chlorophyll from solution in a process known as winterization.