James Gunn Thanks Crew And Producers For 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Success, Spends Weekend Working On Sequel
If you just directed the number one movie in the world, a film that grossed well over its initial goals to set an all-time August opening, how would you spend your weekend? James Gunn spent it working on the sequel.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy grossed an estimated $94 million on its opening weekend. That's the all-time August record for an opening weekend, and a good $30 million over early estimates for Guardians. It was a time to celebrate for the film's writer/director and everyone else involved in the film, but Gunn took to Facebook to thank his crew and producers, and to tell fans he didn't spend the weekend celebrating. He spent the weekend working on the sequel. Read his Guardians of the Galaxy opening weekend thank you note below.
Here's what Gunn posted on his Facebook Sunday afternoon:
Thanks to all of you who saw (and are seeing) Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend, from the bottom of my heart. The Guardians are a group of oddballs, outcasts, and geeks. The movie is for anyone who ever felt cast aside, left out, or different. It's for all of us who don't belong. This movie belongs to you. And, today, I think we're doing okay.I am of course happy with all the film has accomplished box-office-wise. But what touches me the most is that the film I told the folks at Marvel I wanted to make two years ago is the film that you're seeing in theaters today – it's that so many of you seem to be directly EXPERIENCING the film I INTENDED. The cast, the producers, the crew, and I felt like we were making something special while we were making it. But it is very rare that a director's INTENTIONS in creating a film, or a scene, or a character, or a line of dialogue are, seemingly, specifically what is experienced by an audience (not to mention critics!), and that seems to be what has happened here. You have allowed a talking raccoon – for a moment, a minute, or a day – to make you a little more human. And for that, I am profoundly grateful.If I relied on myself to implement these intentions, the film would be a shambling mess. But instead, I had a wonderful cast, genius producers, an incredibly brave studio, sublimely talented visual effects artists, great editors, and the best damn crew of mostly-British bastards to actually implement these intentions for me. Where I had a good idea they would, through alchemy, transform it into a great one. Many of you involved are friends of mine on Facebook. Many of you will read this somewhere else. I love you all.You may remember me posting here a couple weeks ago how sad I was to be finishing up the film, that I was having trouble letting go of Rocket, and that I was going to miss him. But seeing him (and Groot, and the rest of the team) embraced by the world like they have been, to be UNDERSTOOD, makes it a wonderful letting go. It's like giving a foster pet up for adoption to the most wonderful parents in the world.And, of course, I'm not really saying goodbye as, while many of you have been enjoying the film, I've spent this weekend hard at work on the sequel. I couldn't help myself! The results are nice but it's really the creative process I love and that keeps me going. I'm on fire with this thing! The Guardians have so many hardships and heartaches and triumphs ahead of them, and I can't wait to share them with all of you.Onto week two...Love, James
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Ladies and gentleman, that's passion. Gunn should be chilling on a beach somewhere fielding phone calls from the Hollywood elite. Instead he's been on Twitter, interacting with fans, and working on the continuing adventures of Rocket, Groot, Star-Lord, Drax and Gamora. We'll see those new adventures in July 2017. For more on Gunn, read our interview with him.