GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Just Beat Every Movie In 2014

Guardians of the Galaxy is officially the top movie of Summer 2014. Out grossing Transformers: Age of Extinction, Days of Future Past, and eventually Captain America: The Winter Soldier (only $5 million before GOTG takes the lead) at the domestic box office, Star-Lord and his band of extraterrestrial misfits are this year’s biggest surprise. Even though critics and fans adore the Guardians, their $251 million haul was far from certain.

Think about it… how many folks have even heard of this intergalactic team? How fewer knew the likes of Rocket Raccoon or Groot? Hell, even some of our comic book cadre here at Unleash The Fanboy were ignorant of Marvel’s latest blockbuster group. If you were to ask around our Seattle warehouse this time last year, I doubt more than a handful of scribes could’ve correctly identified Star-Lord’s alter ego.

The team’s just not that popular! It had no right to smash the box office record this year… but it did. And most of that success is owed to James Gunn’s spectacular vision. Well, that, and the outstanding cinematic pedigree that Marvel Studios has cultivated over the past 6 years. Beginning with Iron Man, Kevin Feige and his illustrious crew spearheaded a campaign to develop all of their core Avengers characters for the silver screen. Yielding a few mediocre flicks here or there (Incredible Hulk, I’m looking at you) this cabal of super geeks have been wildly successful. Hell, they’ve somehow managed to incorporate Sam Raimi’s (director of the first Spider-Man trilogy) unbridled fun with an equal helping of real world pragmatism, resulting in some really awesome spectacles.

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is now 3 years away. Hopefully Marvel can keep up their winning streak.