Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn Reveals Why He Paid $1 Million to Use a Song in a Movie

When it comes to James Gunn productions, the director is known for including epic music in his projects. Recently, the Peacemaker opening became a huge hit and even led to a resurgance of the band Wig Wam. Gunn is especially known for putting together the “Awesome Mixes” from Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and the upcoming third moive is expected to have a new range of music thanks to the Zune Kraglin (Sean Gunn) gave to Star-Lord/Peter Quill (Chris Pratt). Today, Gunn was answering some questions on Twitter and revealed he once spent $1 million to get the rights to a song.

“How much does it usually cost to buy the rights to use a song?” one fan asked. “I’ve paid nothing, I’ve paid 75 bucks, and I’ve paid a million dollars. It depends,” Gunn revealed. Another fan joked in the comments that “Everyone’s asking price just went up to a million bucks.” Gunn replied, “It was probably the only song I’d ever want to pay that much for. It was a rare, rare case of not getting the rights before we shot, changing the song in post, & really needing the song for the movie to work.” While Gunn did not reveal the song, he did confirm it was not “Moonage Daydream” by David Bowie. However, plenty of fans are making guesses in the comments. You can check out the tweets below:

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In another tweet, Gunn talked about the times he was unable to get the rights to songs. “I was denied use of 1 song for #Peacemaker (the band’s new lineup were bitter toward the previous lineup so wouldn’t okay an older tune) & 1 song I wanted for Vol 3 was in a legal battle over who owned it, so we didn’t even know who to negotiate with. Those are the only 2 times.” You can view that tweet below:

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Earlier this year, Gunn spoke with Billboard and teased the new music in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 won’t be like the songs chosen by Peter’s mom in the first two films.

“Yeah, I just came from the set right now,” Gunn replied when asked about the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 mixtape. “Just that it comes from the brown Zune that Yondu gave to Peter Quill. They aren’t chosen by his mother, I can tell you that.” 

Are there any songs you’re hoping to hear in Gunn’s next movie? Tell us in the comments! 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is due to hit theaters on May 5, 2023.