GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
2017 ‧ Science fiction film/Action ‧ 2h 18m
Peter Quill and his fellow Guardians are hired by a powerful alien race, the Sovereign, to protect their precious batteries from invaders. When it is discovered that Rocket has stolen the items they were sent to guard, the Sovereign dispatch their armada to search for vengeance. As the Guardians try to escape, the mystery of Peter's parentage is revealed.… More
Initial release: 19 April 2017 (Hollywood)
Box office: 791.7 million USD
Budget: 200 million USD
On June 2, 2015, Gunn announced on social media that he had completed the first draft of the screenplay, and that the film's title would not simply be Guardians of the Galaxy 2.[104] The same week, he confirmed the return of Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and Cooper as Gamora, Drax, and Rocket, respectively.[5] At the end of the month, Gunn announced the film's title as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,[105] on which he said that he "came up with a LOT of titles for Vol. 2. But because 'Guardians of the Galaxy' is already so wordy, it seemed strange to add another bunch of words after it. I liked Vol. 2 the best, so that's what I stuck on the cover of the screenplay—and, fortunately, [Marvel] liked it."[106]
In September 2015, Gunn said in a Facebook post that he wanted to use Sneepers, an alien race that first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1964, as background characters in the film but was advised against it by Marvel's legal department because the name was too similar to snípur, the Icelandic word for clitoris.[107] The Marvel legal department later cleared the use of Sneepers in the film, in part because of all the media coverage Gunn's initial post received.[108] At the end of the month, Feige stated casting announcements would be made "over the next few months before the end of the year",[109] and by the end of October Pom Klementieff was cast as Mantis.[36][37] Also, Matthew McConaughey had been offered the role of the film's antagonist,[110] but had passed on it in favor of The Dark Tower. McConaughey felt he would have been "an amendment" in Vol. 2 in "a colorful part [made] for another big-name actor."[111] In December, Gunn said that he was corresponding with John C. Reilly about him reprising his role as Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey,[112] while Kurt Russell entered early talks to play Quill's father.[113] After the death of David Bowie, Gunn said that there had been discussions for Bowie to appear in the film,[114] and that he had completed the final draft of the script.[115] Benicio del Toro, who portrayed the Collector in the first film, expressed interest in portraying the character again, despite Marvel not contacting him about the sequel;[116] Gunn explained that the Collector "just didn't fit" into Vol. 2.[117] In early February, comedian Steve Agee was revealed to be in the film.[58]
Prop master Russell Bobbitt had difficulty finding the cassette decks that had been used in the first film, and all of the Sony Walkman headsets they sourced for the sequel were broken. Sony also did not have any headsets available for filming, while three pairs Bobbitt found on eBay cost around $1,800 and were not the exact model. Bobbitt eventually created six from scratch for Vol. 2. Other props he created for the film included two sets of blasters for Quill, with removable blaster cartridges, and "steampunk-looking weapons and belts" for the Ravagers;[20] Bobbitt explained that four different weapons were designed for the latter group, and then 15-20 versions of those were produced to be used by the various Ravager actors (there could be up to 85-95 Ravagers per scene). For their belts, the props team cut the leather themselves rather than buying existing belts, and then parts from different electronic devices such as radios and cell phones were glued together to make each belt "a unique piece of art". The prop department also made edible props for certain scenes: a prop of a stinkbug-inspired insect was made from chocolate and injected with black honey so it could be eaten on screen and "when he bit down the honey poured out of his mouth"; similarly, a "yarrow root" was designed based on enlarged images of pollen, and then created with non-dairy white chocolate to be eaten onscreen.[30]
Principal photography began on February 17,[40] with Marvel confirming that Russell had joined the cast, and revealing that Elizabeth Debicki and Chris Sullivan had also been cast, all in undisclosed roles.[40] The production used all 18 stages at Pinewood Atlanta, an increase in stage space from what was used for the first film. Gunn said the sequel required more sets than the first and "our sets are very large, even though a lot of the film is CGI. I like to have as many practical sets as we can and make the environments as real as possible so it balances out the CGI elements." Despite this, Gunn noted that there were less locations featured in the sequel, with the focus instead on being more specific and detailed with the fewer places shown. Sets constructed for the film included: several for the Sovereign planet, for which Chambliss used a "1950s pulp fiction variation on 1930s art deco design aesthetic"; the Ravager's main ship in the film, the Eclector, which was constructed in sections to provide a complete 360-degree view of the ship as well as the ability to move sections around and portray different areas of the ship; and the Iron Lotus establishment on the "pleasure planet" of Contraxia, which Chambliss wanted to feel like it had been put together from "a whole yard of repurposed junk where old spaceships are cast away and industrial materials that aren't of use anymore are just left to rot", creating a "kind of neon jungle in its own way and covered in ice and snow." Interiors for other ships were also constructed, to limit the amount of blue screen the actors had to interact with.[30]
In April, Gunn stated that Reilly would not be part of the film, and that Glenn Close would be filming scenes to reprise her role of Nova Prime Irani Rael from the first film, though it was unclear whether she would make it to the final cut of the sequel.[16] He added that there were many other characters he could not include in the film due to rights issues, saying that 20th Century Fox "owns so many awesome cosmic villains and minor characters that I'd love to play around with," such as Annihilus and Kang the Conqueror.[117] When filming Stan Lee's cameo, Gunn also filmed two other cameos with Lee to limit the amount of travel he had to do. One cameo was used in Doctor Strange, while the other Gunn could not reveal.[71][124] Additional filming for Vol. 2 took place in Cartersville, Georgia,[125] while the Georgia International Convention Center served as additional soundstage space for the film after pre-production work for Spider-Man: Homecoming began occupying several soundstages at Pinewood Atlanta.[90] Principal photography wrapped on June 16, 2016.[126]
In November, Gillan revealed that the film was undergoing reshoots.[131] That February, it was reported that the film had scored a perfect 100 in test screenings, the highest for any Marvel Studios film. The Hollywood Reporter noted, however, that although all film studios conduct test screening, generally from a random pool of people, Marvel selects its audience "from a more select pool of recruits, what it terms 'friends and families screenings'... [And] because the Marvel testing process is not as random as other studio procedures, the 100 score for Guardians 2 is not necessarily able to be compared to other non-Marvel movies." Producers and studio executives also "caution at putting too much meaning into test scores, pointing out the scores are best at gauging where audiences engage or disengage," and may not reflect the ultimate reception from critics' reviews and a wider audience, and its box office gross.[132] In March 2017, Gunn revealed that Michael Rosenbaum would appear in the film,[47] and that he would once again provide the dancing for Baby Groot as in the first film "in a much bigger way. I actually had to do like a full day's worth of dancing to get Groot's dance down this time. Last time it was me in front of an iPhone, and this time it's me dancing on a huge soundstage and shooting it from five different angles."[133]
Fred Raskin and Craig Wood returned from the first film to serve as editors.[40] Discussing scenes that were cut from the film, Gunn said Nathan Fillion, who had had a voice cameo in the first film, was going to cameo as Simon Williams in the sequel, in a sequence that would have shown several movie posters for films starring Williams, including films in which he portrays Arkon and Tony Stark.[134][135] Gunn chose Williams for Fillion's cameo because he "wanted to bring [Fillion] more fully into the MCU at some point, so I didn't want to make him Arkon Guard #2, narrowing his chance of a more substantial role in the future" and could clearly see Fillion in the role of Williams. Gunn also considered Fillion's cameo canon to the MCU, despite it being cut from the final version of the film.[136] He also confirmed that Close would not appear in the sequel, as "I was trying to cram Nova Prime into the second movie as opposed to having it happen organically."[71]
Weta Digital handled Ego during his fight with Quill, utilizing a digital double of Russell for many of their shots. Weta also needed to created a digital double for David Hasselhoff for the moment when Ego shifts into Hasselhoff's guise. Guy Williams, Weta's visual effects supervisor, said, "We tried morphing to a live action Hoff - but it did not hold up as well. The Kurt version looked better than the Hoff version,..and while we had built a very detailed Kurt digi-double,- we didn't want to go to the same level on the Hoff for just two shots. But in the end we did have to do a partial build digi-double of the Hoff. The reason we did the Kurt digi-double in the first place was to make sure all the effects stuck correctly to the body... so we went with the approach of a full digi-double, the hair, the side of the face everything on Kurt. For the Hoff, we got pretty close, but it is not quite as detailed as for Kurt."[139] Additional work by Weta included the inside of Ego's planet, known as the Planet Hollow, which was inspired by the fractal art of Hal Tenny, who Gunn hired to help design Ego's environment.[138][140] Gunn added that there are "over a trillion polygons on Ego's planet," calling it "the biggest visual effect of all time. There's nothing even close to it."[140]
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made its world premiere in Tokyo on April 10, 2017,[147] and its Hollywood premiere took place on April 19, at the Dolby Theatre.[148] The film began its international release on April 25, in Australia, New Zealand and Italy,[149] alongside a total of 37 markets in its first weekend, with 176 IMAX screens in 35 of those markets.[150] Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2's North American release on May 5 took place in 4,347 theaters, of which over 3,800 were in 3D,[151] 388 in IMAX and IMAX 3D,[151][152] 588 premium large-format, and 194 D-Box locations.[151] The film's opening in China was in 400 IMAX theaters, the largest ever for the country.[153] It was originally intended to be released on July 28, 2017.[79] On May 4, 2017, 550 theaters in the United States had a special RealD Guardians of the Galaxy double feature event before preview screenings of Vol. 2. Guests who attended received an exclusive mini poster and a set of souvenir collectible buttons
In September 2015, Gunn said in a Facebook post that he wanted to use Sneepers, an alien race that first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1964, as background characters in the film but was advised against it by Marvel's legal department because the name was too similar to snípur, the Icelandic word for clitoris.[107] The Marvel legal department later cleared the use of Sneepers in the film, in part because of all the media coverage Gunn's initial post received.[108] At the end of the month, Feige stated casting announcements would be made "over the next few months before the end of the year",[109] and by the end of October Pom Klementieff was cast as Mantis.[36][37] Also, Matthew McConaughey had been offered the role of the film's antagonist,[110] but had passed on it in favor of The Dark Tower. McConaughey felt he would have been "an amendment" in Vol. 2 in "a colorful part [made] for another big-name actor."[111] In December, Gunn said that he was corresponding with John C. Reilly about him reprising his role as Nova Corpsman Rhomann Dey,[112] while Kurt Russell entered early talks to play Quill's father.[113] After the death of David Bowie, Gunn said that there had been discussions for Bowie to appear in the film,[114] and that he had completed the final draft of the script.[115] Benicio del Toro, who portrayed the Collector in the first film, expressed interest in portraying the character again, despite Marvel not contacting him about the sequel;[116] Gunn explained that the Collector "just didn't fit" into Vol. 2.[117] In early February, comedian Steve Agee was revealed to be in the film.[58]
Prop master Russell Bobbitt had difficulty finding the cassette decks that had been used in the first film, and all of the Sony Walkman headsets they sourced for the sequel were broken. Sony also did not have any headsets available for filming, while three pairs Bobbitt found on eBay cost around $1,800 and were not the exact model. Bobbitt eventually created six from scratch for Vol. 2. Other props he created for the film included two sets of blasters for Quill, with removable blaster cartridges, and "steampunk-looking weapons and belts" for the Ravagers;[20] Bobbitt explained that four different weapons were designed for the latter group, and then 15-20 versions of those were produced to be used by the various Ravager actors (there could be up to 85-95 Ravagers per scene). For their belts, the props team cut the leather themselves rather than buying existing belts, and then parts from different electronic devices such as radios and cell phones were glued together to make each belt "a unique piece of art". The prop department also made edible props for certain scenes: a prop of a stinkbug-inspired insect was made from chocolate and injected with black honey so it could be eaten on screen and "when he bit down the honey poured out of his mouth"; similarly, a "yarrow root" was designed based on enlarged images of pollen, and then created with non-dairy white chocolate to be eaten onscreen.[30]
Filming[edit]
Pre-shooting began on February 11, 2016,[118] at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in Fayette County, Georgia,[119] under the working title Level Up,[90] with Henry Braham serving as cinematographer and Scott Chambliss as production designer.[5][120] Gunn noted that many of the crew from the first film, such as cinematographer Ben Davis and production designer Charles Wood, signed on to work on Doctor Strange, and due to a late change in production schedule to a November 2015 start, were unable to work on Vol. 2.[121][122] Vol. 2 was the first film to be shot with an 8K resolution camera, the Red Weapon 8K.[123] Additional scenes were also shot in IMAX and its aspect ratio.[90]Principal photography began on February 17,[40] with Marvel confirming that Russell had joined the cast, and revealing that Elizabeth Debicki and Chris Sullivan had also been cast, all in undisclosed roles.[40] The production used all 18 stages at Pinewood Atlanta, an increase in stage space from what was used for the first film. Gunn said the sequel required more sets than the first and "our sets are very large, even though a lot of the film is CGI. I like to have as many practical sets as we can and make the environments as real as possible so it balances out the CGI elements." Despite this, Gunn noted that there were less locations featured in the sequel, with the focus instead on being more specific and detailed with the fewer places shown. Sets constructed for the film included: several for the Sovereign planet, for which Chambliss used a "1950s pulp fiction variation on 1930s art deco design aesthetic"; the Ravager's main ship in the film, the Eclector, which was constructed in sections to provide a complete 360-degree view of the ship as well as the ability to move sections around and portray different areas of the ship; and the Iron Lotus establishment on the "pleasure planet" of Contraxia, which Chambliss wanted to feel like it had been put together from "a whole yard of repurposed junk where old spaceships are cast away and industrial materials that aren't of use anymore are just left to rot", creating a "kind of neon jungle in its own way and covered in ice and snow." Interiors for other ships were also constructed, to limit the amount of blue screen the actors had to interact with.[30]
In April, Gunn stated that Reilly would not be part of the film, and that Glenn Close would be filming scenes to reprise her role of Nova Prime Irani Rael from the first film, though it was unclear whether she would make it to the final cut of the sequel.[16] He added that there were many other characters he could not include in the film due to rights issues, saying that 20th Century Fox "owns so many awesome cosmic villains and minor characters that I'd love to play around with," such as Annihilus and Kang the Conqueror.[117] When filming Stan Lee's cameo, Gunn also filmed two other cameos with Lee to limit the amount of travel he had to do. One cameo was used in Doctor Strange, while the other Gunn could not reveal.[71][124] Additional filming for Vol. 2 took place in Cartersville, Georgia,[125] while the Georgia International Convention Center served as additional soundstage space for the film after pre-production work for Spider-Man: Homecoming began occupying several soundstages at Pinewood Atlanta.[90] Principal photography wrapped on June 16, 2016.[126]
Post-production[edit]
At San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Russell and Debicki were revealed to be playing Ego, Quill's father, and Ayesha, respectively.[28] Sylvester Stallone was also revealed to be in the film,[28] with his role later revealed as Stakar Ogord.[46] Gunn also introduced multiple actors who were playing Ravager characters, since the Ravagers have a larger presence in the film.[42] On the decision to reveal Russell as Ego and Quill's father when he did, Gunn felt that since "people were going to figure it out eventually... it was better that we took the reins in our own hands" and make the reveal. Gunn also felt that by making the reveal, "it sends a real important message [that] this movie isn't about, 'Oh my god, you've gotta go and find out who Peter Quill's dad is!' It really is about the story and the relationship that these characters have... and the emotions that transpire between Peter Quill, his adoptive father Yondu, and his real father Ego".[127] In August 2016, Gunn confirmed the film would feature a post-credits scene,[101] later stating there would be five in total, with four mid-credits scenes and one post-credits, all written and directed by himself.[128][129] Gunn also planned a sixth scene, seeing Gamora and Mantis come across the "mortally wounded" Ravager Gef—who had been hiding since being shot by Yondu earlier in the film—but ultimately did not include it because "it ended up being a little confusing."[130]In November, Gillan revealed that the film was undergoing reshoots.[131] That February, it was reported that the film had scored a perfect 100 in test screenings, the highest for any Marvel Studios film. The Hollywood Reporter noted, however, that although all film studios conduct test screening, generally from a random pool of people, Marvel selects its audience "from a more select pool of recruits, what it terms 'friends and families screenings'... [And] because the Marvel testing process is not as random as other studio procedures, the 100 score for Guardians 2 is not necessarily able to be compared to other non-Marvel movies." Producers and studio executives also "caution at putting too much meaning into test scores, pointing out the scores are best at gauging where audiences engage or disengage," and may not reflect the ultimate reception from critics' reviews and a wider audience, and its box office gross.[132] In March 2017, Gunn revealed that Michael Rosenbaum would appear in the film,[47] and that he would once again provide the dancing for Baby Groot as in the first film "in a much bigger way. I actually had to do like a full day's worth of dancing to get Groot's dance down this time. Last time it was me in front of an iPhone, and this time it's me dancing on a huge soundstage and shooting it from five different angles."[133]
Fred Raskin and Craig Wood returned from the first film to serve as editors.[40] Discussing scenes that were cut from the film, Gunn said Nathan Fillion, who had had a voice cameo in the first film, was going to cameo as Simon Williams in the sequel, in a sequence that would have shown several movie posters for films starring Williams, including films in which he portrays Arkon and Tony Stark.[134][135] Gunn chose Williams for Fillion's cameo because he "wanted to bring [Fillion] more fully into the MCU at some point, so I didn't want to make him Arkon Guard #2, narrowing his chance of a more substantial role in the future" and could clearly see Fillion in the role of Williams. Gunn also considered Fillion's cameo canon to the MCU, despite it being cut from the final version of the film.[136] He also confirmed that Close would not appear in the sequel, as "I was trying to cram Nova Prime into the second movie as opposed to having it happen organically."[71]
Visual effects[edit]
Visual effects for the film were created by Framestore, Weta Digital, Trixter, Method Studios, Animal Logic, Scanline VFX, Lola VFX, Luma, and Cantina Creative.[137] Framestore once again created Rocket and Baby Groot, as in the first film.[138] Lola VFX worked on de-aging Russell, having previously done similar work in other MCU film; they also added to various characters, including Nebula. To achieve the younger Ego, Lola referenced Russell's performance in Used Cars, as "he had a lot of the [facial] action" the visual effects artists were looking for. They also used a younger stand in, Aaron Schwartz, since he had "big broad jaw, chin, and most importantly the way the laugh lines move[d] and crease[d] as he talk[ed]", similar to Russell's.[139]Weta Digital handled Ego during his fight with Quill, utilizing a digital double of Russell for many of their shots. Weta also needed to created a digital double for David Hasselhoff for the moment when Ego shifts into Hasselhoff's guise. Guy Williams, Weta's visual effects supervisor, said, "We tried morphing to a live action Hoff - but it did not hold up as well. The Kurt version looked better than the Hoff version,..and while we had built a very detailed Kurt digi-double,- we didn't want to go to the same level on the Hoff for just two shots. But in the end we did have to do a partial build digi-double of the Hoff. The reason we did the Kurt digi-double in the first place was to make sure all the effects stuck correctly to the body... so we went with the approach of a full digi-double, the hair, the side of the face everything on Kurt. For the Hoff, we got pretty close, but it is not quite as detailed as for Kurt."[139] Additional work by Weta included the inside of Ego's planet, known as the Planet Hollow, which was inspired by the fractal art of Hal Tenny, who Gunn hired to help design Ego's environment.[138][140] Gunn added that there are "over a trillion polygons on Ego's planet," calling it "the biggest visual effect of all time. There's nothing even close to it."[140]
Music[edit]
By August 2014, Gunn had "some ideas listed, but nothing for sure" in terms of songs to include in Quill's Awesome Mix Vol. 2 mixtape,[92] for which he felt "a little pressure for the soundtrack because so many people loved [the first film's soundtrack] and we went platinum and all that other stuff. But I feel like the soundtrack in the second one is better."[141] By June 2015, Gunn had chosen all of the songs for Awesome Mix Vol. 2, and built them into the script.[5] Gunn called the Awesome Mix Vol. 2 "more diverse" than the first one, with "some really incredibly famous songs and then some songs that people have never heard."[142] Tyler Bates had returned to score the film by August 2015.[143] As with Guardians of the Galaxy, Bates wrote some of the score first so that Gunn could film to the music, as opposed to Bates scoring to the film.[112] Recording for the score began in January 2017 at Abbey Road Studios.[144] Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Volume 2, along with the film score album composed by Bates, were released on April 21, 2017.[145][146]Release[edit]
Premiere of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.
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