The controversy behind Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy 3 just doesn’t seem to go away. After director James Gunn was dismissed in July for controversial tweets made several years ago, the future of one the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most successful and popular franchises was up in the air. Now, production has officially been put on hold according to the Hollywood Reporter. In the legendary words of Ron Burgundy, that escalated quickly.
After Gunn’s firing, cast, crew members and fans united to pressure Disney to rehire the director that guided the first two films of the franchise to a combined worldwide box office of over 1.6 billion dollars. The cast, via Chris Pratt’s (Star-Lord) Instagram, notably issued this open letter in support of Gunn:
Dave Bautista (Drax) took the protest a step further, stating that he would quit the franchise if Disney refused to use Gunn’s finished script for the film. There has been no final word on whose script will be used.
The production hold came as a small group of crew members were gearing up for pre-production ahead of a filming schedule that was said to begin this winter. And while “hold” might sound like a soft term, sources told THR that the crew members were “being dismissed and are free to look for new work.” Which sounds harsh, but it appears Disney’s primary motivation is to find a new director for the project before moving forward.
Where this ultimately leaves Guardians 3 is anyone’s guess. Disney is a profit driven machine, but also not one enslaved to making a profit over terrible PR decisions. Between Star Wars, other Marvel properties (like 2019’s Infinity War 2), and its live action remakes of seemingly every one of its classic animated features, the House of Mouse is not hurting for a dollar.
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