Chris Pratt Celebrates Guardians of the Galaxy’s Tenth Anniversary

Yesterday marked 10 years since James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy hit theaters, and franchise star Chris Pratt took to social media to celebrate the landmark. Six years into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios took what many thought was their biggest risk, making a movie based on a little-known group of characters starring a cast of mostly B-list actors. It turned into one of the highest-grossing movies they had made to date and established Pratt as one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. Following the success of Guardians, Pratt landed a job on Jurassic World, and the rest is history.

Pratt is expected to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe soon, although there are no clear plans yet. At the end of Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, Marvel included an end tag that read, “Star-Lord will return.”

“Today marks 10 YEARS since Guardians of the Galaxy hit the big screen,” Pratt wrote. “Can you believe it? What a journey it’s been. I love this cast, the crew and everyone involved. So grateful to the fans! You have changed my life. And to James Gunn, who took a chance on the sweaty goofball from Parks and Rec, thanks dude.”

Besides Pratt, most of the Guardians cast appear to be finished with the Marvel Universe. Dave Bautista, who played Drax, and Zoe Saldana, who played Gamora, have both said they have no plans to return, and filmmaker James Gunn is now running DC Studios with producer Peter Safran.

Guardians went on to spawn two theatrical sequels and a Holiday Special, which aired on Disney+ and centered primarily on Bautista’s Drax and Pom Klementieff’s Mantis. Collectively, the movies have earned more than $2 billion, and spawned mountains of merchandise as well as inspiring a roller coaster at Disney Parks.

In Guardians of the Galaxy, per its official synopsis, “Brash space adventurer Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) finds himself the quarry of relentless bounty hunters after he steals an orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain. To evade Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with four disparate misfits: gun-toting Rocket Raccoon, treelike-humanoid Groot, enigmatic Gamora, and vengeance-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when he discovers the orb’s true power and the cosmic threat it poses, Quill must rally his ragtag group to save the universe.”

Guardians of the Galaxy is available on disc and digital. It streams free on Disney+ for subscribers.