History
After a successful Phase One, Marvel Studios announced its Phase Two line up and Guardians of the Galaxy shocked everyone. Marvel Studios (MS) introduced the world to Iron Man and rebooted Hulk. Then they expanded the foundation of the universe with Iron Man 2 and subsequently released character introduction film for Thor and Captain America.
The first step is always the hardest and despite carrying his own book for nearly 40 years and getting a short-lived cartoon, Iron Man took on the task of introducing a lesser known character to the world. Its success opened the doors for Thor and Captain America and the eventual Avengers. Had Iron Man failed, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) would not exist as we know it.
Rebooting the Hulk after he fought dogs and water was also quite risky. Despite his popularity, the length of time between Hulk and The Incredible Hulk alone was cause for concern. The fledgling studio’s second release was, at the very least, a financial gamble.
Thor was introduced and quite frankly, the riskiest of all. In my opinion the Thor films are the weakest in the MCU. Thor isn’t very interesting as a character. Norse connotations, alien origins and Superman similarities plague his appeal to the general audience. However, Loki was interesting enough and the God of Mischief brought a weight and threat to the MCU as well as provided a great dynamic with his adoptive main character brother.
Captain America served as the backbone of the entire MCU mythology and cause for its event. That is a daunting task in itself. If a WWII movie involving laser guns and a secret Nazi faction isn’t risky then nothing is.
The good and bad of these movies are in constant debate and discussion, but the risk factor for each was quite high. But all of the films were enough of a financial success to ensure the next step and growth of the studio and its ambitions.
Then The Avengers came and its success opened up the sandbox for everything else to explore. While opinions of the Phase Two films vary, two out of the three films have impacted the MCU as a whole. Again, Thor: The Dark World, is generally considered the weakest of Phase Two, partly because its events have no real influence on the MCU aside from Loki presumably disposing of Odin and acting as King of Asgard. Iron Man is on hiatus and Captain America disbanded S.H.I.E.L.D. These two films have given Joss Whedon the unenviable task of writing The Avengers 2.
Why Guardians of the Galaxy is the Safest Option:
The next film in the MCU is Guardians of the Galaxy. A film not as connected to the overall MCU as everything before it and the last MCU film before the highly anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Here I will outline the perfect storm Marvel is set to walk into.
1 – Timing
So much in life is dependent on timing, and the entertainment industry is not immune to this. Nolan’s Batman wouldn’t have been as important had it not been preceded by a decade of mediocrity. Marvel Studios wouldn’t have been possible without the financial success of Fox and Sony produced Marvel movies. All comic book movies wouldn’t be as grand in scale without special effects advancements.
Guardians of the Galaxy is scheduled for an August 1st release in the year of Our Lord 2014. The timing of this release, whether planned or fortuitous, couldn’t be more perfect. It is the last of the big summer releases after an entire summer of sequels, reboots or sequels to reboots and there is even an inbetweenquel.
While sequels tend to make more money than the original and big summer franchises rely on familiarity, originality goes a long way. Every franchise started with a singular movie. Starting a franchise this summer can only be beneficial as sequel fatigue sets in. In short, Guardians of the Galaxy has a better chance to succeed when it has no competition as far as original big releases.
2 – Brand Recognition
If nothing else, the MCU has a proven record of entertaining the masses. They’ve showcased their heroes and introduced the general audiences to characters they didn’t know before. More impressively, the MCU has established itself as an overall connected universe to the general audiences. The Marvel logo carries weight.
If people are (which there is no indication of) apprehensive about this movie, the Marvel logo tells the audience what to expect and that it is a movie to be trusted to entertain. What Marvel has set themselves up for is that even if the audience knows nothing about the character(s), the brand itself serves as the franchise.
3 – Subject Matter
Guardians of the Galaxy is a space adventure film suitable for all ages. Those tend not to fail. It is also imperative one does not confuse “suitable for all ages” with, “children’s movies.”
Avatar and Star Wars managed to succeed without having any predecessors and they didn’t have the brand recognition that Guardians of the Galaxy is fortunate enough to have. Galaxy Quest and Space Balls even succeeded as spoofs of the genre.
Outer space provides the setting audiences associate with escapism and the source material provides the adventure, humor and even self-parody that has succeeded for decades. When the first teaser trailer for the movie was released the audience was introduced to the characters and was essentially told everything they needed to know. When Peter Quill introduces himself as Star Lord, the general audience has the same reaction as Korath and the audience learns that it’s okay that they don’t know him - no one does.
The source material doesn’t take itself too seriously and the movie seemingly doesn’t either. This allows for a lot of humor and a lot of fun for the audience.
4 – The Family Factor
Never underestimate the buying power of kids. R2-D2, 3-3PO and Chewbacca gave children something to wonder in imagination about while the adults watched an engaging story. Once kids fully grasp that there is a sweetheart tree that can also fight and a machine gun carrying raccoon with an attitude problem along with weird aliens and a human they can relate to…is there anything to stop kids from demanding to see it?
All site complaints should be sent directly to [email protected]