James Gunn explains why you won’t get to see that GOTG2 footage from SDCC

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Every year, one of the biggest arguments that seems to arise around Comic-Con, particularly the studios' presentations of their upcoming slates, is whether or not they're going to show any trailers, footage or early looks outside the halls of the San Diego Convention Center. Some have come to terms with the fact that they'd rather release things right away in the highest quality than allow fuzzy bootlegs to define the early conversations about their movies. And others still would rather keep something special for those in the room and hope people listen to their requests not to record. 

Marvel typically tries to thread the needle between the two, showing off finished trailers for films that are getting released sooner and have a greater urgency to be promoted while keeping scenes meant to boost the enthusiasm of those in attendance for the projects in question under wraps after lifting the curtain for a few minutes. 

Take a look at this year's Hall H presentation… We got to see the new DOCTOR STRANGE trailer, sitting at home, but nothing from BLACK PANTHER or GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, and there's a reason for that. BLACK PANTHER hasn't even started filming yet, so that's self-explanatory, but director James Gunn is perfectly fine explaining in a Facebook Live video why you aren't seeing anything from GUARDIANS at this point. 

Of course I want to share with you guys everything. It’s important for me to be able to do that. But here’s the thing, the footage we released at Comic-Con will eventually be seen by he pubic but in a more finished form. It’s very early days. We’ve only been shooting for a month. We presented an entire huge scene with Yondu, Rocket and Baby Groot, and then we also presented a special glimpse just for San Diego Comic-Con, a teaser trailer of sorts.

The visual effects are not finished. I am a perfectionist. People who have followed know that everything needs to be exactly as I want it to be to be seen in a film, so that it stands up to repeated viewings. The truth is this Comic-Con footage…it’s not something that I nor Marvel are comfortable with being out there and standing up to repeated viewings, because the visual effects just aren’t finished. If I do something I want to do it 100% correctly.

However, to sit in the audience, one time, and show them an in-progress piece of film, it’s a different story. It’s just like if you were a friend of mine, you might come over to my house and I might show you a little bit of the movie. Or I might be in the editing room and show you a little piece.

See…? Those people got to see something early but inferior to what we'll eventually see when it's all prettied up. Sucks for them. We actually made out okay then, because, while some of you just want to see something, anything really, these decisions are made for the benefit of us all. After all, who wants to judge something that isn't ready yet? Yeah, those in attendance get to spout off about how cool the thing they saw was, but isn't it even cooler when it's presented in all of its glory? This rationalization works for me. 

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 opens on May 5, 2017.