Opening this weekend is director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy.  As most of you know, the story follows five intergalactic misfits—Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper)—as they set out to protect a powerful and mysterious orb from the villainous Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace).  Loaded with great performances, an extremely funny script, and some fantastic action sequences,Guardians of the Galaxy should be a big hit with moviegoers and it helps to explain why Marvel was so quick to announce that a sequel is coming July 28, 2017.

At the recent Los Angeles press day, I landed an exclusive video interview with Vin Diesel.  He talked about his reaction to watching Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time, taking his kids to the screening, the status of another Riddick sequel, upcoming projects like Kojak, his Hannibal trilogy, xXx 3, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Opening this weekend is director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy.  As most of you know, the story follows five intergalactic misfits—Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper)—as they set out to protect a powerful and mysterious orb from the villainous Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace).  Loaded with great performances, an extremely funny script, and some fantastic action sequences, Guardians of the Galaxy should be a big hit with moviegoers and it helps to explain why Marvel was so quick to announce that a sequel is coming July 28, 2017.

At the recent Los Angeles press day, I landed an exclusive video interview with Benicio del Toro, who plays The Collector.   He talked about how he got involved in the Marvel universe, his contract with the studio, how the look of the Collector came together, upcoming films Inherent Vice and Paradise Lost, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is such a fun ride, with great action, plenty of laughs, a ton of heart and perfect choices in music.  It will have you singing along, and cheering for the snarky Rocket Raccoon and a talking tree named Groot.

During a conference at the film’s press day actors Chris Pratt (“Peter Quill”/”Star-Lord”), Zoe Saldana (“Gamora”), Dave Bautista (“Dax the Destroyer”), Michael Rooker (“Yondu”), Benicio Del Toro (“The Collector”) and Vin Diesel (“Groot”) were joined by director James Gunn to talk about what attracted them to this project, how liberating it is to not have to fit into the regular Marvel scheme of things, why Yondu is such a bad-ass, fighting the right attitude for Peter Quill/Star-Lord, the emotional journey of the story, the process for having the music organically come from and compliment the story, the physicality of these roles, why the movie references Kevin Bacon, and everyone’s favorite song on the soundtrack.  Check out what they had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers.

Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t arrive until Friday, but Marvel’s clearly got high hopes for the property because not only did the studio confirm a sequel for July 28, 2017, but now they’re finally moving forward with that rumored Guardians of the Galaxy animated series, too.  There’s no word on when it will air, but during San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Animation and Disney XD did share a one-minute preview of the show.

Disney XD also renewed Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Marvel’s Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. for second seasons, both of which are due to premiere in the fall.  Avengers Assemble features the voices of Adrian Pasdar, Fred Tatasciore, Roger Craig Smith, and Troy Baker while Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. has got Tatasciore, Clancy Brown, Seth Green and Eliza Dushku.  Hit the jump for more.

Under Kevin Feige‘s guidance the Marvel Cinematic Universe has blossomed into the one of the most popular, well-loved, and financially successful set of films ever produced.  He’s an undeniable force in the industry who clearly understands what fans want to see.  Earlier today, before hitting the stage for Marvel’s Hall H panel, I had the opportunity to sit down for a group interview with Feige.  He talked about the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, the possibility of Netflix/MCU crossover, plans for Thanos, actor contracts, releasing more movies per year, and a lot more.  Check out what he had to say after the jump.

In addition to confirming the roles of Corey Stoll and Evangeline Lilly in Marvel’s Ant-Man, the studio also officially announced a sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy.  The first film is less than a week away from opening, but its sequel has already been slated for July 28, 2017.  This release date is the very first in a new batch of calendar slots recently claimed by the studio.  At this point, it seems like Marvel thinks Guardians is money in the bank, and if early screening reactions are any indication, they might very well be correct.  We’ll find out when the first film opens on August 1st.

Guardians of the Galaxy stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, and Peter Serafinowicz, and featuring the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel.

Last week Marvel announced 5 Untitled Movies with release dates stretching all the way up until May of 2019.  At the time, I guessed that the one bearing the date of May 3rd, 2019 would be Avengers 3 since that franchise’s signature early May release date was missing from the 2018 slate and 2017 seemed just a bit too soon to get everyone together again.

I’m doing away with that theory at this point because Marvel just announced yet another film for May 4th, 2018.  That first week of May is Avengers territory and 2018 is one whole year sooner that the studio gets to trot out their most valuable IP.  It makes sense that they want as few gaps between these things as possible.  So now I’m going to guess that  Avengers 3 hits on May 4th, 2018.  Hit the jump for more on this potential Avengers 3 release date.

It was almost exactly a year ago that we got our first look at footage from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy at Comic-Con, and now the film’s release is just over a week away.  If you opt to see director James Gunn’s comics adaptation in IMAX at midnight on August 1st, you’ll receive a fan-made mini-poster that’s actually quite neat.  It teases the titular Guardians (played by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Bradley Cooper), as well as the film’s buzzworthy soundtrack.  If early reactions are any indication, we’re in for quite a treat.

Hit the jump to take a look at the Guardians of the Galaxy IMAX poster.  The film also stars Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, and Peter Serafinowicz.  Guardians of the Galaxy opens in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on August 1st.

We’re walking a fine line with Marvel’s marketing for Guardians of the Galaxy, with one side being in danger of giving away too much and the other offering teases to fans and newcomers alike.  In the last four days alone, we’ve seen not one, but two clips from the film.  Now, since audience reactions to an early screening were overwhelmingly positive, perhaps they want to encourage that great word of mouth with yet another clip.  This one does a solid job of not only showing off the film’s sense of humor, but further exploring the relationships between the characters early on in their tenuous arrangement.  Good stuff, but I’ve already seen more than enough to convince me to check this one out in theaters.

Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, and Peter Serafinowicz, and featuring the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, Guardians of the Galaxy opens August 1st.  Hit the jump to check out the latest clip.

With director James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy opening August 1st, over the weekend, Marvel and Disney held a huge press junket here in Los Angeles.  While I’ll be posting my video interviews with the cast next week, I wanted to share my exclusive interview with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige today.  During our wide-ranging conversation he talked about making Guardians of the Galaxy, how much of the film was planned before James Gunn signed on, the great soundtrack, deleted scenes, whether we could see an extended cut in theaters before the Blu-ray release, and more.

In addition, we also talked about casting Josh Brolin as Thanos and if he signed a multi-picture deal, why they didn’t show the post-credits scene at the press screenings, the untitled Marvel movies being released through 2019, the studio’s Comic-Con plans, the fact that Marvel knows who will be playing Doctor Strange but the contract isn’t signed yet (if the person does sign by Comic-Con he’ll be announced on Saturday), the status of Thor 3 and Captain America 3, the chances Robert Downey Jr. returning for Iron Man 4, and more.  Hit the jump for the interview and click here to read some going tweets about Guardians of the Galaxy.

With just a little over a week to go until its big release, early Guardians of the Galaxy reactions are coming in and, as we told you yesterday, they’re tremendously positive.  There’s always been a chance this whole thing could go south considering it’s such an unusual and highly stylized Marvel film, but ever since that very first trailer dropped back in February, it really did seem like James Gunn pulled it off.  At this point we’ve got loads of quality promotional material to further prove Guardians could be a standout, all of these adoring first reactions, and now we can add a solid extended clip from the film to the collection, too.

The piece is nearly five minutes long and gives us some serious background on all five main characters and also an extensive look at what goes down when the team is thrown in The Kyln.  Guardians of the Galaxy arrives in theaters in 3D on August 1st.  It stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, and Peter Serafinowicz, and features the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel.  Hit the jump for the Guardians of the Galaxy extended clip.

Guardians of the Galaxy opens in two weeks and I’m hoping it’s going to be massive.  Based on the 17 minutes of footage I saw and my general love of writer/director James Gunn, I want nothing more for this film to do well (and for me to love it when I finally see it). I love all of the characters so far (I’ve never read the comics so I’m just going off of the movie here), especially the way Rocket and Groot kind of complete each other.  And now you can own them courtesy of Hot Toys and Sideshow Collectibles.  Each of these two characters has between 15 and 17 points of articulation and will include an additional interchangeable angry expression face and a pair of partially clenched angry palms for Groot.

Hit the jump for more images and a list of specifications for Hot Toys’ Rocket and Groot or click here to pre-order Rocket and Groot on Sideshow’s website.

Normally when we bring you audience reactions from early screenings of highly anticipated movies, we try to bring a balance of positive and negative responses in an attempt to paint an unbiased picture.  In the case of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, that proved more difficult than usual since reactions were overwhelmingly positive.  Praise flowed for director James Gunn and his successful balance of humor and action in the difficult space opera genre.  Oddball characters Groot and Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper respectively) got a fair share of the spotlight, and Dave Bautista’s Drax was called “better than Superman” by one viewer.  Overall, things are looking very, very good for the Guardians‘ debut, and for a possible sequel in the years to come.

Also starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, and Peter Serafinowicz, Guardians of the Galaxy opens in 3D on August 1st.  Hit the jump to take a look at some early reactions to Guardians of the Galaxy.

Looks like Marvel Studios is quite bullish on their prospects for Phase 3 (and possibly beyond).  They’ve just announced 5 release dates for films that are as-of-yet untitled and they stretch all the way up to 2019.  That’s two films a year.

We’ll be updating this piece with more data as our analysis comes in, but could the May 3rd, 2019 date be when we’ll see Avengers 3?  The announced Marvel release dates are:

• Marvel Untitled – 7/28/17 wide
• Marvel Untitled – 11/3/17 wide
• Marvel Untitled – 7/6/18 wide
• Marvel Untitled – 11/2/18 wide
• Marvel Untitled – 5/3/19 wide

Marvel has released the first Guardians of the Galaxy clip online, and it showcases a scene that should be familiar to anyone who has seen the trailers.  The scene focuses on Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) trying to take an orb only to be interrupted by Korath (Djimon Hounsou).  What’s interesting about the clip is how it plays in the larger context of a scene rather than cherry-picking the snappiest parts and leaving out the plot points as opposed to how we’ve seen the scene in the trailers.

Hit the jump to check out the Guardians of the Galaxy clip.  The film also stars Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Rooker, John C. Reilly, Peter Serafinowicz, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel.  Guardians of the Galaxy opens in 3D on August 1st.