Early reaction to the the “Guardians Of The Galaxy” trailer that debuted on Jimmy Kimmel Live last Tuesday night, has been notable. More than 3.9 million tuned in within the first twenty four hours. Compared that to the 3.6 million views that “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” clocked during the Super Bowl. One would think that Marvel Studios has set the right tone introducing a largely unknown cast of characters.
The general consensus seems to be you either love it or hate it. Some more familiar with the lore seem disenchanted by it, Others with no knowledge were intrigued by it. I imagine there’s more people willing to watch it with no clue of its history, than there is people avoiding it as they know so much of it is being incorrectly presented. Many are saying that this could be Marvel’s first misstep, a definite hard sell and ‘has flop written all over it.’
I’m saying that “Guardians Of The Galaxy” could well be the surprise hit of the summer. This is a superhero flick for people who don’t like superhero flicks. And yes, they are out there.
I think people are forgetting that before the MCU, Iron Man and Thor were secondary Marvel characters that people outside of their fan base had little-to-no interest in. And it’s not like RDJ and Chris Hemsworth were A-listers at that point. Ironman was a risk. Thor was a risk. The Avengers, the biggest risk of all. And they all worked out.
However, the cynic in me says it will do well overall, but not hit the same numbers as other Marvel films. Two hundred million versus $250. It looks like its one of those movies that people flock to on opening weekend, and worse case scenario, it stays on top for a month because everyone has to see if it’s as bad as they say. It makes a profit, and warrants a sequel that destroys the first film in terms of sales. Now, Marvel has done a great job making blockbusters out of their second tier heroes, but they’re still second tier heroes, and those movies go out of their way to be blockbusters first and comic book movies second. Maybe they can score a similar result here, but I’m reminded of when after Spider-Man originally came out in 2002 some movie executive said, “If any of these upcoming super hero movies do as well as Spider-Man it’ll be a huge success,” then they released Daredevil.
Exposing people to the cosmic universe of Marvel’s stories will help tie in the events of Thor II and the Avengers together with the mention of Thanos in Avengers and the Age of Ultron introduction for Avengers II, some explanation of the Infinity Gauntlet and the Nova Corps is needed. Basically Marvel has ten years worth of movies from this set up alone; we could see Civil War very soon with the new Cap movie and from there it could easily transfer in to Secret Invasion (if they decide to go this route). If this movie actually succeeds, it could open the floodgates for a renaissance of cool, weird movies for years to come. Marvel seems to think the genre is ready to take a huge step forward. I really, REALLY hope they are right.
-Dagobot
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