Not long ago, during the ongoing scramble to find a director to replace James Gunn for Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3, rumors began circulating that BUMBLEBEE director and Laika Studios CEO Travis Knight was being considered for the job. After all, with early buzz about the upcoming TRANSFORMERS spinoff being quite positive, it wouldn't be too far fetched to think that Marvel would be looking to land Knight for the in-distress superhero sequel. Unfortunately, it sounds as if Knight isn't preparing to board the team's Benatar ship anytime soon.
The KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS director said as much while talking with the Italian website Bad Taste. When asked about the rumor that Marvel was hoping to court him as the helmer of the Guardian's next space-faring adventure, Travis quickly stomped the heresay down, saying that his plans are to return to Laika for whatever magic they have planned after the release of Chris Butler's stop-motion animated feature MISSING LINK.
"After BUMBLEBEE, my goal is to return to work at the animation studios Laika, my 'child' bringing with me all the baggage of experiences I have gained with this project," Knight clarified. "I'm a huge fan of what Marvel did, it's no surprise for anyone to know that as a child I was a huge fan of comics. But no, it's just a rumor!"
Blarg! I think that I would have liked to see a Knight-directed Guardians film. Having watched Knight toil away in Laika Studios with my own eyes during a set visit for 2014's THE BOXTROLLS, I can tell you first hand that the man is a fountain of vision, and a bonafide workhorse to boot. It would have been cool to see him lend his knack for heartfelt comedy to the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY franchise, but alas, it is not meant to be.
As you might recall, Gunn was fired from GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 after a collection of decade-old tweets containing reprehensible jokes and commentary were unearthed and shared online. With lightning quick precision, Disney and Marvel excised Gunn from the Guardians franchise, severing all ties with the Tromaville alum. The move to fire Gunn outright was met with a tremendous amount of backlash from fans, as well as members of the Guardian's cast. In the time since, Gunn was nabbed by DC and Warner Bros. as the new director of SUICIDE SQUAD 2, which is expected to serve as a reboot for the villain-centric franchise.
Meanwhille, Travis Knight's BUMBLEBEE will buzz into theaters on December 21st.
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