After becoming Marvel’s biggest-franchise starter at the global box-office by overtaking the haul of 2008’s Iron Man earlier in the week, James Gunn’s space opera Guardians of the Galaxy has now become the first release of 2014 to hit $300 million domestically and has also crossed the $600 million mark worldwide. Having opened in Japan yesterday, and with a Chinese release still to come, Guardians certainly has a good chance of becoming the highest-grossing comic book movie of the year, with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on $708 million, Captain America: The Winter Soldier on $714 million and X-Men: Days of Future Past on $745 million.
Guardians of the Galaxy sees Gunn directing a cast that includes Chris Pratt (The Lego Movie) as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora, Dave Bautista (Riddick) as Drax the Destroyer, Bradley Cooper (American Hustle) as Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel (Fast & Furious 6) as Groot, Benicio Del Toro (Sin City) as The Collector, Lee Pace (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug) as Ronan the Accuser, Karen Gillan (Doctor Who) as Nebula, Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) as Korath, John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) as Rhomman Dey, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead) as Yondu, Glenn Close (Damages) as Nova Prime Rael and Josh Brolin (Men in Black 3) as Thanos. Read our reviews here, here and here. You can also listen to our podcast episodes on Guardians of the Galaxy here.
Originally published September 13, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
