Marvel's GUARDIANS of the GALAXY Vol. 2: May 5th, 2017 (1 Viewer)

[dpippel]

Also, my kids are playing the Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 game for the Nintendo Switch. The game opens with the Guardians' spaceship flying across the stars and the Marvel logo while "Come And Get Your Love" (the song that opened the first movie) plays. I doubt they'd feature the Guardians so prominently in a game about the whole Marvel Universe if they were done with them.

To be fair Sam, that game was released on November 14, 2017, long before the issues Disney had with Gunn's 10-year-old tweets hit the media, and it was in development for a while before that.

 

[Sam Favate]

That's true, but does anyone really think they're going to fold up shop on the Guardians after all that, just because of some 10-year-old tweets?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

You know, I don't think they'd intentionally wake up one day and say, "We're done making Guardians movies."

But I could imagine a scenario - and it's probably an unlikely scenario - where events conspire to make that the easiest course of action. I think the biggest factor will have to do with exactly what kind of contracts the cast members are signed to. The typical Marvel deal seems to be for about seven films, and that usually covers a series of both stand-alone adventures where the cast member is in a leading role, as well as appearances in team up films where they play more of a supporting role, and then the option to do cameos here and there as necessary. I don't know for a fact, but since that's basically the standard contract that Marvel gives out, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the deal that Pratt, Saldana and Bautista signed. Let's assume that since the first Guardians movie came out in 2014, that they signed that deal in 2013.

In California, where Disney's headquarters are located and where the contracts are signed, personal services contracts (which are what actors sign) are only valid for seven years. So, regardless of the number of films that the contract stipulated, those original deals will expire at some point next year (possibly even this year, if they were signed for Guardians in 2012). Those contracts are everything, because the cast members were signed back when their rates were significantly less than what they are today. If Disney has to renegotiate, it would be a massive pay increase for the main (live action) leads. Chris Pratt could easily ask for the $40-50 million plus gross points that Disney gives Robert Downey, Jr. now. I'm not sure if Saldana or Bautista could reasonably ask for as much given that their non-MCU careers aren't as highly in demand, but they'd certainly be worth millions more than they were in 2014. It's not inconceivable that resigning the cast for a single extra film could now cost Disney an extra $100 million. The cast were publicly unhappy with how Disney handled James Gunn, which means that the cast might not feel any goodwill towards wanting to offer Disney a discount on their services.

I'm not sure how likely any of the above is, but I do think that there is at least one scenario where, because of contracts like the above, Disney is looking at what would have been a $200 million production turning into a $300 million production just on cast salaries, and they might decide that it's not worth it to them to make the movie under those conditions. Particularly when they could take two of the more popular characters, Rocket and Groot, and give them their own spin-off on Disney+ with different voice actors, for a fraction of the cost.

 

[dpippel]

It's also possible, though not likely, that Disney could do something with the Guardians in Endgame that would allow them to uh, "gracefully" stop making films with those characters if they so choose. Again, not at all likely, but within the, er, quantum realm of possibility.

 

[Malcolm R]

That's true, but does anyone really think they're going to fold up shop on the Guardians after all that, just because of some 10-year-old tweets?

They've pretty much already done that, creating all kinds of unnecessary issues by their massive overreaction to old news. As Josh so eloquently described, there are a number of signficant roadblocks to making the "Vol. 3" movie--financial, casting, etc.--and also the uncertainly as to whether it would do the same amount of box office as the first two given the core audience's anger at Disney over the Gunn situation.

 

[Jake Lipson]

It's also possible, though not likely, that Disney could do something with the Guardians in Endgame that would allow them to uh, "gracefully" stop making films with those characters if they so choose.

That raises the question of whether or not Endgame has been altered in any way following Gunn's dismissal from Vol. 3 versus what the original plan for Endgame was when it was going to end with the Russos handing the Guardians back to James Gunn for Vol. 3. I know because I saw photos posted on social media that certain members of the cast have been filming reshoots for Endgame after Gunn's firing, but whether those reshoots are actually a result of Gunn's firing or would have happened anyway is unclear.

Also, Gunn was an executive producer on Infinity War, which of course came out before he was fired off Vol. 3. Given that Endgame was shot back-to-back, it will be interesting to see if he retains his executive producer credit on it, or if Disney will have somehow managed to scrub that off the finished film when it is released in April as a result of his firing from Vol. 3.

 

[Johnny Angell]

it will be interesting to see if he retains his executive producer credit on it, or if Disney will have somehow managed to scrub that off the finished film when it is released in April as a result of his firing from Vol. 3.

There's precedent for that. The Russians liked to eliminate people for photos after they were eliminated the other more unpleasant way.

 

[Sam Favate]

Chris Pratt today: "I promise there will be a third movie."

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/chris-pratt-guardians-of-the-galaxy-vol-3-1203126943/

When Variety‘s Marc Malkin asked if a third film could be made without James Gunn, Pratt said, “I promise there’ll be a third movie, I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like, but I know everyone on board is just eager to give the fans what they want and wrap up a trilogy in a meaningful way.”

 

[Jake Lipson]

Taika Waititi says he is definitely not going to do Vol. 3. "However, I'm still hanging out with those guys [Marvel] and talking about new stuff. I want to do another movie with them."

More at the link: https://deadline.com/2019/02/guardi...-mandalorian-marvel-taika-waititi-1202549372/

 

[Sam Favate]

Chris Pratt on Gunn's GOTG3 script: "It's off the chain. It's so good."

MTV talked to him about the movie, and also said they spoke to Feige who said Guardians is happening - not a question of if, but when.

video:
https://twitter.com/MTVNEWS/status/1093535826993168385

https://mcucosmic.com/2019/02/07/ch...5XG_k6-Fo78i11eVBk0gjgFoD5-UF0b85f8SOIn7soNfY

 

[Malcolm R]

If they can find a director.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3
An Alan Smithee Film

 

[Tino]

“So there’s going to be a third GOTG movie? Wow that’s a surprise”

.........said no one.

 

[Jake Lipson]

If they can find a director.

The problem here is that it's a no-win scenario for that filmmaker, whomever it might be. The absolute best case scenario is that people say, "Well, you did as good of a job as James Gunn did on the previous films." And that's the best case.

Out of all of the Marvel sub-franchises, Guardians is the most distinctly tied to the particular voice and style of the filmmaker. With all due respect to the other Marvel filmmakers, many of whom have very high-quality films I've really enjoyed, it is more possible to imagine a scenario in which someone new makes, say, Ant-Man 3 or Spider-Man Homecoming 3 because those directors did not come onto those original projects from the very beginning. Jon Watts did a great job on Homecoming, but we know other people have made very good Spider-Man films. Peyton Reed did a great job on Ant-Man, but everyone knows he wasn't the first choice for that job. The Russos did a great job on Captain America, but Joe Johnston had made one before them. And so on. Here, the vision has always been James Gunn's and it is very specific, to the point where he was executive producing Infinity War and occasionally writing dialogue for the Guardians to ensure consistency when they were out of his hands in terms of directing it.

So there's not a lot of upside for the person who replaces him. Unless it's someone young and hungry who hasn't had a job of this size offered to them before, for whom this is just too big of a job to turn down, which is where I think that's probably the route they're going to have to go with it. I don't know who that is, but I'm sure there's someone out there for it.

 

[holtge]

If they can find a director.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3
An Alan Smithee Film

Classic!

 

[JimmyO]

If they can find a director.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3
An Alan Smithee Film

Well, Alan IS one of the most prolific directors of all time. Surely he has the experience required!

 

[David Weicker]

Well, maybe they can get the Oscars Host to direct this


Of course, if it got nominated for Best Picture, there wouldn’t be a corresponding Director nomination, so the “Well, it didn’t direct itself” statement would finally be true.

 

[Sam Favate]

Kevin Feige confirms they are still using James Gunn's script for Guardians 3:

https://mcucosmic.com/2019/02/22/ke...fChwRJZrXgexpHCSVKf-RTj6G9nFyhRKvGJrxlLHBrR0c

He also says Gunn's alleged role as "architect of the cosmic side of the MCU" is overstated.

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/24...fluence-on-phase-4-and-his-guardians-3-script

 

[Sam Favate]

Really good profile on Dave Bautista from the Tampa Bay Times, if anyone's interested.

Whatever you think of him, he seems as genuine a person as you'll find. I like that he's interested in character roles that are good, rather than movie star work.

The article mentions the James Gunn situation, but not much we didn't know.

http://www.tampabay.com/florida/2019/02/26/dave-bautista-does-not-want-to-be-a-movie-star/

 

[Edwin-S]

Ordered the 3D Steelbook of this from Amazon Germany. I was surprised that they still had them in stock.

 

[Edwin-S]

Kevin Feige confirms they are still using James Gunn's script for Guardians 3:

https://mcucosmic.com/2019/02/22/ke...fChwRJZrXgexpHCSVKf-RTj6G9nFyhRKvGJrxlLHBrR0c

He also says Gunn's alleged role as "architect of the cosmic side of the MCU" is overstated.

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/24...fluence-on-phase-4-and-his-guardians-3-script

They are going to use his script and then Feige tries to downplay Gunn's importance in fashioning that side of the MCU. What a fucking jerk-off. After that, Vol 3 will have to have a 90%+ audience approval rating before I bother going to see it.