Guardians of the Galaxy is now available on home video. I realized as I was watching the film that this time last year, we were not sure what to expect by this film. It was directed by someone who had never directed a big-budget film before and starred a talking tree and raccoon. Well, when this film became the number one movie of the year people noticed. This film proved the phrase “In Marvel We Trust.” As spoofed on SNL, Marvel could make a movie about a couple of shopping carts and the world would love it and result in over $300 million in box office receipts.
But let’s be honest, did anyone have this film making more than Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier in their box office pool? Much like Frozen this film became a phenomenon. But it didn’t start that way. At one point it was a movie James Gunn thought of passing on. What made this film so special? Why did a comic book team, that was created in 2008 out of the Marvel Universe’s misfits, resonate with the world? What went in to creating the film the solidified Marvel’s role as the super hero cinematic leader?
The bonus features of the Blu-Ray, including an audio commentary by writer/director James Gunn provides some insight into these questions. In the end, the film challenged the presumptions of the audience. It is not really a super hero film, it is more of a space opera. It is not dark like most intergalactic tales these days, it is actually very bright. It showed us, that we can care about a CGI created raccoon and tree as their acting performance matches their human counterparts. And of course, it showed us that some music is timeless.
I encourage everyone to add Guardians of the Galaxy to their collection, but I thought it would be fun to share 10 things I learned from the home video release of the film. While you may have known some of these facts before, they were knew to me. Let me know if you have any fun facts you would like to add:
- The three circles in the Nova Corps insignia is based on their homeworld of Xandar’s three suns.
- The actor who played Peter Quill’s mother, Laura Haddock, also had a bit role in Captain America as an autograph seeker.
- It was Kevin Feige’s idea to put the Marvel logo after the prologue to make the transition between the two scenes less jarring.
- Nathan Fillion, from ABC’s Castle voiced the blue monster inside the prison. As James Gunn says, this allows him to appear in the film while allowing him to portray a bigger Marvel character in the future.
- For the prison set, the only way to afford the intricate design with all the steel, was to melt down the steel after production so they could sell it back
- The scene where Peter Quill drops the orb was not planned. Chris Pratt actually dropped the orb by accident.
- Gunn had composer Tyler Bates complete some of the score early on in production so that it could be played on set to help set the tone of the scenes.
- The spaceship battle scene towards the end of the film with the Nova Corps was inspired by Space Invaders.
- James Gunn was motion-referenced for the dancing Groot scene.
- Seth Green voiced Howard the Duck in the after credits tag.
Don’t forget the Guardians of the Galaxy will return May 5, 2017