Six years to the day after the movie originally premiered in theaters, director James Gunn is celebrating the anniversary of the originalGuardians of the Galaxy. First released on the big screen in the United States on Jul 03, 2025, the blockbuster superhero movie was a tremendous hit at the box office, earning hundreds of millions of dollars in worldwide ticket sale profits. The movie was a big hit with viewers and critics as well, pulling in a 91% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a 92% audience score.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1opened 6 years ago today. Wow,“James Gunnsaid in a post on Twitter, acknowledging the anniversary of one of his most celebrated movies. The filmmaker also includes four photos from behind the scenes of the Marvel movie, showing the filmmaker hamming it up on the set with some of the movie’s stars like Zoe Saldana, Michael Rooker, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, and Djimon Hounsou. It seems pretty clear that this would have been one particularly fun project to be a part of for Gunn and hisGuardianscast if the bright smiles on all of their faces would seem to be any indication.
Based on the comic book superhero team of the same name created byMarvel Comics,Guardians of the Galaxywas directed by Gunn with a screenplay co-written by Gunn and Nicole Perlman. Its ensemble cast featured Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Michael Rooker as Yondu, Karen Gillan as Nebula, and Djimon Hounsou as Korath. Based on the movie’s incredible success, Gunn followed suit with the follow-up movieGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which was released in theaters in 2017 with even better results at the box office.
Of course, wewouldhave gotten threeGuardians of the Galaxymovies by now, if not for the infamous controversy that saw Gunn ousted fromDisneyin 2018 based on tasteless tweets posted to Twitter many years prior. At the time, theGuardianscast rallied behind Gunn, pleading with Disney to bring back the filmmaker to resume work onVol. 3. Though Disney has since relented and brought Gunn back into the fold to develop his thirdGuardiansmovie, the project will not have to wait until the filmmaker is completely finished withThe Suicide Squadreboot he developed for DC and Warner Bros.
For what it’s worth, Gunn believesThe Suicide Squadwill satisfy his fans for now while they wait forGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. “I am beyond excited and we have MAJOR SURPRISES in store for the fans,” Gunn also said on Twitter of theSuicide Squadreboot. The filmmaker also teased more information to come inThe Suicide Squadpanel for DC FanDome virtual experience on Saturday, Aug. 22. you’re able to find out more information about the free online event atDCFanDome.com. This story comes to us fromJames Gunn on Twitter.
