If you haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy by now, stop reading and go see it now. Help this amazing film become an even higher grossing movie of 2014, then come back and read this. No really, I need you to do this, just like Rocket Raccoon needs…well, I’ll let you find that out yourself.
The story here is that Guardians of the Galaxy is now the highest grossing film of 2014, but I think we all knew that. I think we all knew that as soon as Star-Lord turned on that cassette player, this movie would stick around for a long time. The previous Marvel top box office spot in 2014 was Captain America 2, and that’s a no-brainer. Chris Evans reprising his role as America’s favorite (super) soldier. Scarlett Johansson with even more screen time. Robert freakin’ Redford. Of course it held the record.
But with Guardians, who knew? Who knew that a movie about a green assassin, a fighting man the size of a rhino, a walking tree, a talking raccoon, and a petty thief would be so captivating?
I remember being in Hall H two years ago. The rest of San Diego Comic Con was happening around me while I sat there with my friends waiting for the Marvel panel. If you’ve never been to Comic-Con, Hall H is the biggest hall in the San Diego Convention Center. It seats 6,130 attendees. And, of course, the Marvel panel is the biggest panel of the weekend. Marvel announces their lineup for upcoming movies at Comic-Con. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, you know, all the good stuff.
But then they get to something called Guardians of the Galaxy. My friend starts to freak out, along with half of the room. I, and the other half, sit in confusion. “What is this? Who’s Rocket? He’s a what?!” After my friend explained who the Guardians were, I immediately dismissed the movie as anything but good. “There’s no way this is going to make them any money,” I thought. “This is stupid.”
But then I started seeing trailers. Clips. Costumes. “This looks like Star Wars,” I thought, “I’m in.” And then I couldn’t wait for it to come out. When it came out, I saw it six – yes, six – times in theaters (and counting).
Marvel should take note here. Everyone behind every superhero movie should take note. This is the kind of movie that we want to see. I’m not saying that other Marvel films were nothing compared to this, but the fun found in Guardians needs to be brought back into the Superhero movie in some way. Laughter is important in these movies.
Recently, Warner Bros. stated that its upcoming superhero films (the Batman/Superman series) will have no humor, which just doesn’t make sense. I mean, Guardians of the Galaxy is as much a comedy as it is a space-opera and it has brought in almost as much money as Man Of Steel, and it will keep climbing. So, yes, humor is a good thing. We want to laugh at a scene where the protagonist has to barter over a prosthetic leg. We want to listen to David Bowie, The Runaways, Blue Swede, as our heroes enter the unknown. We want life breathed into these stories.
But I fear not for the future of Marvel. They, at least, keep making superhero movies fun. How do I know? Because Judd Apatow’s favorite leading man, Paul Rudd, is playing Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man. Here’s to the jokes, and may they never stop!
