James Gunn Reflects on Guardians of the Galaxy Opening Eight Years Ago This Week

By Russ Burlingame

Yesterday marked eight years since the theatrical release of Guardians of the Galaxy, and writer/director James Gunn took to social media to share his thoughts on the film that made him a household name. While Gunn had been a successful filmmaker for years before Guardians, it was the release of the smash-hit Marvel movie that put him in a whole new category of blockbuster filmmaker. It also altered the trajectory of his career, with two sequels, a holiday special, and more opportunities at Warner Bros./DC, all of which were influenced by the success of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Gunn shared a quartet of photos from the movie, including a behind-the-scenes shot of himself checking out the Orb as it floated in place. 

You can see Gunn's tweet below.

Guardians was the first space-set Marvel movie, and in no small part helped establish the look of cosmic adventures in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also contributed to the tone of projects like Thor: Ragnarok and serves as a big-screen companion to something like Doom Patrol or DC's Legends of Tomorrow.

From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers, comes a new team--the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits--Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Peter discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand – with the galaxy's fate in the balance. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is presented by Marvel Studios. 

Guardians of the Galaxy was released on August 1, 2014, and is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital. You can stream it for free on Disney+.

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