Guardians of the Galaxy, summer 2014

[GreenSkeletonII]

Rocket Raccoon will be the Hulk of whatever movie he's in.  People will eat that shit up.

And come on people, we're really going to play the Hollywood logic of "space/Mars movies bomb, so this movie will bomb?"

I guess they should just halt production of Star Trek 2 then.  The first one only made $257 million...

I've only read 3-4 issues of the new GotG, but just their designs makes me want to read more and get excited for the movie. 

And clearly Marvel Studios is going for something big, epic, and spacey.  Give them credit for venturing into uncharted territory.  Have they not earned some trust yet? 

[Nojfotra (Jonathan D. Gordon)]

At the end of the day, you have to MAKE and MARKET a good movie. It's that simple.  And Marvel Studios is KILLING it in that department. 

With characters that have been in the public conscious for years.  Even with Nova you would have nobody on a poster who had any nostalgia for anyone. Dont use the GL and John Carter comparison then, These characters cant carry there own comic for long even amongst people who walk into an LCS and buy issues.  

Marvel may be Killing it. But Its much different promoting Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk than it is trying to sell people on plunking down not just money but 3d ticket price (which is the way kids want to see it) in a tree a racoon and some other characters they havent heard of.

[Wood]

With characters that have been in the public conscious for years.  Even with Nova you would have nobody on a poster who had any nostalgia for anyone. Dont use the GL and John Carter comparison then, These characters cant carry there own comic for long even amongst people who walk into an LCS and buy issues.  

Marvel may be Killing it. But Its much different promoting Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk than it is trying to sell people on plunking down not just money but 3d ticket price (which is the way kids want to see it) in a tree a racoon and some other characters they havent heard of.

So the world knew who the giant blue skinned creatures were in Avatar before its release?
People had a love affair with Jack Sparrow and his pirate friends?
Woody and Buzz were household names?
Simba and Timon and Pumba were adorning bed sheets long before they were in a film?
The goofy green ogre and his hilarious donkey buddy were known commodities?

 

[Nojfotra (Jonathan D. Gordon)]

And come on people, we're really going to play the Hollywood logic of "space/Mars movies bomb, so this movie will bomb?"

I guess they should just halt production of Star Trek 2 then.  The first one only made $257 million...

People (general public) can name star trek characters. GL outside of superfriends has no penetration with the general public. Nobody outside of comic people know who any of the other lanterns are or whohis enemies are. JOhn Carter even if named "Warlord of Mars" is not a property thats been actively pushed into the public for over 30 years. anyone under 30 had no clue who those characters were.

I think this is current marvel entertainment execs as the old saying goes "Thinking they hit a triple when they were born on third base." They made a great avengers movie. It was the shit. but thats not why people who hadnt seen it went to the theaters. It was the characters and the Nostalgia. Thats not gonna happen for guardians.  

[Lawrence]

Nobody knew who Iron Man was before Robert Downey JR.

Marvel can create fandom.

[Jeppe]

Marvel may be Killing it. But Its much different promoting Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk than it is trying to sell people on plunking down not just money but 3d ticket price (which is the way kids want to see it) in a tree a racoon and some other characters they havent heard of.

I honestly don't think the difference is that big.

[Nojfotra (Jonathan D. Gordon)]

So the world knew who the giant blue skinned creatures were in Avatar before its release?
People had a love affair with Jack Sparrow and his pirate friends?
Woody and Buzz were household names?
Simba and Timon and Pumpa were adorning bed sheets long before they were in a film?
The goofy green ogre and his hilarious donkey buddy were known commodities?

 

I agree you can make it work. If pixar put the movie out and left the MARVEL logo off of it. Fact is and I have friends like this, If its Marvel or DC and its not a character they grew up with "Its nerdy shit" thats how the public
is going to treat it.  The Avengers gets a pass because every main character was in cartoons and parades since the mid 60's.

Again.....If the Guardians were the kind of characters that could sell people on the movies they would sell hardcore comics fans in larger numbers on comics. They don't. Its a tiny segment of the collective "US" that dip into marvel cosmic when not forced there by crossovers with characters we actually read.

I wouldnt care except we all know from past experience hollywood is fickle with comics. Marvel "Killing It" right now turns out a flop and execs wont know that they were brought a property a couple hundred fanboys wanted.
They will assume people are tired of comic book movies.  

[GreenSkeletonII]

People (general public) can name star trek characters. GL outside of superfriends has no penetration with the general public. Nobody outside of comic people know who any of the other lanterns are or whohis enemies are. JOhn Carter even if named "Warlord of Mars" is not a property thats been actively pushed into the public for over 30 years. anyone under 30 had no clue who those characters were.

I think this is current marvel entertainment execs as the old saying goes "Thinking they hit a triple when they were born on third base." They made a great avengers movie. It was the shit. but thats not why people who hadnt seen it went to the theaters. It was the characters and the Nostalgia. Thats not gonna happen for guardians.  

Yes, but if Marvel sets this movie up as "you need to see this before you watch Avengers 2," they will have a lot of ticket sales based on that alone.  Plus, if it's a good movie, even better.

[GreenSkeletonII]

Do the sales of Marvel cosmic comics REALLY matter?  I don't think it can be used as a gauge for box office potential.

[Nojfotra (Jonathan D. Gordon)]

Yes, but if Marvel sets this movie up as "you need to see this before you watch Avengers 2," they will have a lot of ticket sales based on that alone.  Plus, if it's a good movie, even better.

The other way of looking at it is if its billed as "you need to see this before you watch Avengers 2," and people still dont care enough to see it, it could cripple Avengers 2. movie goers rarely watch 3rd parts if they didn't see the 2nd. 

Do the sales of Marvel cosmic comics REALLY matter?  I don't think it can be used as a gauge for box office potential.

It does as far as it shows the level of interest even among people prone to liking comics and sci fi.  Jonah hex even if it was a great movie was a title that sells on the margins.

[aelfinn]

i think that the marvel/disney execs might be smart enough to realize that if the property can't be marketed on the nostalgia factor that the previous films have been able to tap into... then they'll need to approach it in a different way.  A superhero movie doesn't have to rely on the kitsch of memories from childhood to create some good buzz.  

I could be giving the marketing people too much credit, but it's how I choose to think about it and that makes me happy and excited

[Wood]

Do the sales of Marvel cosmic comics REALLY matter?  I don't think it can be used as a gauge for box office potential.

Of course it doesn't.  Iron Man, Cap and Thor were all mid-list titles even in good times.

[JimN]

With characters that have been in the public conscious for years.  Even with Nova you would have nobody on a poster who had any nostalgia for anyone. Dont use the GL and John Carter comparison then, These characters cant carry there own comic for long even amongst people who walk into an LCS and buy issues.  

Marvel may be Killing it. But Its much different promoting Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk than it is trying to sell people on plunking down not just money but 3d ticket price (which is the way kids want to see it) in a tree a racoon and some other characters they havent heard of.

People go see movies (and pay 3D prices) to see characters they aren't familiar with all the time. That's Jason's point and it's a good one. The public doesn't need to have prior knowledge of the Guardians of the Galaxy for a movie about them to be a box office success. If it's made well and marketed well, it will have a good chance to succeed. At this point, don't rule out the the level of trust Marvel Studios may have with movie audiences or the way they use one film to tease the next. They've put together a string of hits and their characters have been successful for other studios as well. If they lay a little more groundwork for a Guardians flick in next summer's Thor or Iron Man movies, there's absolutely no reason they can't get people to go see Guardians of the Galaxy.

At this point, superhero movies have become THE summer box office attractions. There's a built-in interest in the next one and the biggest hurdles to selling the public on seeing the latest superhero movies are marketing and simply making a good film.

I think this is current marvel entertainment execs as the old saying goes "Thinking they hit a triple when they were born on third base." They made a great avengers movie. It was the shit. but thats not why people who hadnt seen it went to the theaters. It was the characters and the Nostalgia. Thats not gonna happen for guardians.

It doesn't have to achieve Avengers numbers to be successful.

Jim

[JimN]

From Entertainment Weekly:

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/06/28/a-gunslinging-raccoon-marvel-moving-forward-on-guardians-of-the-galaxy-movie-breaking/

This past April, however, Feige told William Bibbiani of Crave Online that the movie would focus more on the reboot of the comics in the 1990s than on the original team.

From the aforementioned Crave Online article:

When asked for to confirm that an upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie would be focused on the new team, as opposed to the original team, created in 1969 which had their own well-received series from Jim Valentino in the 1990s, he clarified: "Yeah. It's more Star-Lord and Drax and Gamora, and less Vance Astro and that team."

 

[JimN]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/guardians-galaxy-movie-marvel-studios-avengers-343228

According to insiders, Guardians already has a well-regarded script by Nicole Perlman. She previously wrote two space-related biopic scripts: Challenger, about the 1986 Space Shuttle disaster, and an untitled Neil Armstrong project. She entered Marvel’s now-defunct writing program to broaden her range, and there she developed a reputation for action writing. She wrote a Black Widow script that so impressed the execs that they brought her on to work on Thor.

She also has written two drafts of Guardians that are highly regarded. Adding to the heat surrounding Guardians is the fact that Marvel is on the hunt for a director. Those in the know say the project is in line with The Avengers in tone, with plenty of comedic elements on display.

[Brian G]

but thats not why people who hadnt seen it went to the theaters. It was the characters and the Nostalgia. Thats not gonna happen for guardians.  

I'd say that's not true. Not even for the majority. There were tons of people who saw the film who never even read a comic. The first Iron Man film defined the character for most. People were caught up in the Avengers hype machine. Nostalgia was there for the comic fans, but hardly for everybody who saw the films.

Hype made the Avengers a household name. The only character that had huge public recognition before the film was the Hulk. Before these movies Iron Man was a song and Captain America was confused with Captain Planet. The nostalgia was there for us comic fans, but we are very much the minority.

If Guardians of the Galaxy can bottle up the hype of the Avengers franchise, it'll be a hit.

[jdudley]

I just hope that Rocket Racoon has the most badass introduction of all time.

[Julian Lytle]

People (general public) can name star trek characters. GL outside of superfriends has no penetration with the general public. Nobody outside of comic people know who any of the other lanterns are or whohis enemies are. JOhn Carter even if named "Warlord of Mars" is not a property thats been actively pushed into the public for over 30 years. anyone under 30 had no clue who those characters were.

I think this is current marvel entertainment execs as the old saying goes "Thinking they hit a triple when they were born on third base." They made a great avengers movie. It was the shit. but thats not why people who hadnt seen it went to the theaters. It was the characters and the Nostalgia. Thats not gonna happen for guardians.  

 ALot of this is all wrong. real talk the GL everyone knows is black (well folks that matter that means 35 and under demo wise) John Carter failed because of marketing and the director not wanting to use his Pixar cred.

Once Marvel won with Avengers all my reservations about team films and how they are doing business is gone. Marvel Studios KNOWS how to do this. Iron Man wasn't a known character, now he's hotter than the sun. Thor is more known is basically the story key to the whole universe, hey we need crazy shit-tie it into Thor cause he's in space. People really don't know Cap more than him being an American Superhero and now all that has changed.

Marvel will make this work. They set up Thanos now and Nova is starting to be used a lot and is a good entry point character. I think maybe Quasar will be used since Wendell Vaughn is a SHIELD agent and we need another Shield dude to root for. Groot is like a plant chewbacca, that's money. A Racoon with gats. WITH GATS!

This movie can make 200+ million easy domestic at lest 400+ worldwide. Hell with John Carter being a flop it still made close to 300 million total.

[Lawrence]

ALot of this is all wrong. real talk the GL everyone knows is black (well folks that matter that means 35 and under demo wise) John Carter failed because of marketing and the director not wanting to use his Pixar cred.

Once Marvel won with Avengers all my reservations about team films and how they are doing business is gone. Marvel Studios KNOWS how to do this. Iron Man wasn't a known character, now he's hotter than the sun. Thor is more known is basically the story key to the whole universe, hey we need crazy shit-tie it into Thor cause he's in space. People really don't know Cap more than him being an American Superhero and now all that has changed.

Marvel will make this work. They set up Thanos now and Nova is starting to be used a lot and is a good entry point character. I think maybe Quasar will be used since Wendell Vaughn is a SHIELD agent and we need another Shield dude to root for. Groot is like a plant chewbacca, that's money. A Racoon with gats. WITH GATS!

This movie can make 200+ million easy domestic at lest 400+ worldwide. Hell with John Carter being a flop it still made close to 300 million total.

I think people not going to see that flick and or not enjoying it had so little to do with it not being the same Lantern from the Justice League cartoon its barely relevant. Just a bad movie with a bad trailer.

[JimN]

I think people not going to see that flick and or not enjoying it had so little to do with it not being the same Lantern from the Justice League cartoon its barely relevant. Just a bad movie with a bad trailer.

Bingo!