‘Guardians of the Galaxy 3’ Review: A Grounded Return to a Well-Worn Franchise

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “The Voice” has not been much concerned with current Broadway voices until now. That’ll change in a big way with this coming Monday’s episode, which will feature a show-stopping number from “Shucked” — marking the first time a song from a currently running Broadway show has been featured on the long-running singing competition series. The song is “Independently Owned,” a major nightly showcase for Tony nominee Alex Newell. It’s been cited as the rare example of an original Broadway musical having its first and possibly biggest standing-ovation number come in the middle of the first act… and it’s a testament to “Shucked” as a whole that the production doesn’t feel like it’s going downhill from that early barn-burner.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” stayed atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for a second consecutive weekend with £5.4 million ($6.6 million) for a total of £23.9 million, per figures from Comscore. In second place, in its sixth weekend, Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” collected £858,444 for a total of £51 million. There were two debuts in the top five. Sony’s “Love Again” bowed in third place with £340,785 and Universal’s “Book Club: The Next Chapter” in fourth with £299,370. Rounding off the top five was Studiocanal’s “Evil Dead Rise,” which earned £258,417 in its fourth weekend for a total of £5 million.

Florence Welch had an emotional reaction to seeing one of her songs feature at the end of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3.Just as it did in the first two movies, music plays an important role in Vol. 3;  and the film’s emotional conclusion hit fans even harder thanks to the inclusion of the Florence + The Machine classic ‘Dog Days Are Over’.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 director James Gunn has received the People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals’ (PETA) Not A Number award for his portrayal of animal testing cruelty in his latest Marvel film.Announced yesterday (May 8) via the official PETA website, the organisation wrote that Gunn was being honoured with the award for “showing audiences that Rocket Raccoon’s origin story isn’t out of Knowhere — cruel, callous, and cold-blooded experiments on animals are real, and they’re happening right now.”Portions of the film, which follows Rocket’s (voiced by Bradley Cooper) past as a test subject where he was tortured through multiple experiments.PETA’s Senior Vice President Lisa Lange wrote in a statement: “Through Rocket, James Gunn has put a face, a name, and a personality on the millions of vulnerable animals being cycled through laboratories as we speak.

James Gunn is unveiling Pete Davidson's secret role. On Sunday, the director replied to a fan's question on Twitter, revealing that he voiced Lambshank in the movie and that Davidson voiced the character of Phlektik.The chatter surrounding Davidson's involvement in the film started when fans noticed the former  star's name in the credits.Alongside a selfie of Gunn with Davidson and star Chris Pratt, the director shared, «My friend Pete not only voiced but actually came to visit us in Atlanta for a day and played Phlektik on set.»I voiced the beautiful Lambshank. I don't want to show her here because she's too gorgeous & I don't want folks to feel bad about themselves in comparison.

James Gunn has said he considered killing off Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora in 2017’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2.The director discussed his original plan for the character in an interview with ComicBook.com, where he explained that Marvel executives Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito talked him out of the decision.“Gamora almost died in Vol. 2,” Gunn said.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, in the most hilarious way.In a self-deprecating Instagram post, the actress recalled a moment during a break in filming when she logged on to a Zoom couple’s therapy session while still in full movie makeup.Given Gillan plays the blue-skinned cyborg Nebula in the films, you can only imagine what a sight it must have been for her therapist and her husband, comedian Nick Kocher.“In honour of Guardians of the Galaxy in theatres this Friday – here’s a screenshot of the time I forgot I had scheduled a COUPLES THERAPY session on a day we were shooting,” the 35-year-old captioned a screenshot of the chat in which her face was visibly blue.Gillan’s Guardians co-stars were quick to react to the screenshot in the comments of her post, with Chris Pratt writing: “THIS IS THE BEST.”Zoe Saldana, who plays Nebula’s adopted sister Gamora in the franchise, wrote: “This needs to be in a movie.”In a separate interview with Entertainment Tonight, Gillan explained she was running late for the session and had no time to take her makeup off.“I don’t know if they were fully prepared for what they got when I logged on,” she told the outlet.

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is undoubtedly the end of an era. The James Gunn-directed trilogy signed off with an emotional adventure that united the team of intergalactic misfits to save one of their own, before the Guardians made the decision to go their separate ways — with a new team suiting up to help protect the galaxy.But, is it really the end?Following the end credits, which see Chris Pratt's Peter Quill returning to Earth to reconnect with his grandfather, the typical Marvel title card appears, promising, «The Amazing Star-Lord will return.»So, what does this mean? When asked about the moment at the premiere in New York City, Pratt seemed to choose his words carefully. «Well, this is the last time these Guardians of the Galaxy will be on screen together,» he explained.

WARNING: Light spoilers ahead for “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” may mark the end of the Guardians as we know them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t continuing on.

After two massively successful installments in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” film franchise, James Gunn was ready to work on the third. Then he got fired, went to DC to make “The Suicide Squad,” was rehired to work on ‘Guardians,’ and released a Christmas special, and now, years later, we’re here to finally see how the filmmaker wanted his franchise to end.

Jordan Moreau The Guardians of the Galaxy are blasting off at the box office one final time, earning $17.5 million in previews for director James Gunn’s “Vol. 3” finale. The newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will take the box office crown after Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” topped the charts for the last four weeks. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is expected to bring in between $110 million and $120 million in its opening weekend, which is in between the grosses of the previous two films, also directed by Gunn. The first “Guardians of the Galaxy” had $11.2 million in Thursday previews on its way to opening with $94 million back in 2014. Its sequel, 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” reached $17 million in Thursday previews and landed a $146 million opening weekend.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 marks the end of an era for Marvel’s group of misfits – but is this the last we’ll see of them?Director James Gunn previously confirmed that the third instalment would be the Guardians’ final adventure together, and it’s currently unclear if or how the characters will be involved in future MCU films.Vol. 3 sees the Guardians adjusting to life on Knowhere as parts of Rocket’s past resurface.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 has only just arrived in cinemas, but questions are already being asked about a potential fourth film.Vol.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 has been hailed as a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, with the future of the franchise now very much up in the air.Director James Gunn previously confirmed that the third instalment would be the Guardians’ final adventure together, although following the release of the film, it’s now clear that many of the characters will appear again in other MCU films.Vol. 3 sees the Guardians adjusting to life on Knowhere as parts of Rocket’s past resurface.

is an epic conclusion to James Gunn's space saga that's been nearly 10 years in the making. But it almost didn't happen at all.«Totally, thousand percent, didn’t think I was coming back,» Gunn told ET's Ash Crossan when they sat down to discuss the conclusion of the Guardians' MCU storyline.Gunn was fired from the Marvel film by Disney in July 2018 after controversial jokes he made nearly a decade earlier were resurfaced on Twitter.

series has a reputation for having some of the best needle drops in the MCU, and is no exception. From the very first moments of the first film in 2014, which featured Chris Pratt's Star-Lord bopping along to Redbone's «Come and Get Your Love» on his Walkman, director James Gunn has punctuated his fun-loving space adventure with a memorable collection of songs, immortalized on the film's aptly titled  soundtracks.So, what are some of the favorite needle drops of the Guardians themselves? ET's Ash Crossan sat down with some of the cast, ahead of the release of the third and final, to find out.«Lake Shore Drive» by Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah«I think my favorite song of the entire trilogy is probably the opening song for the opening movie — it's probably 'Come and Get Your Love.'… I love that song, but I also got to say there's a really special place in my heart for 'Lake Shore Drive' in the second movie, which is from my past. James and I grew up in the Midwest, and that was kind of a local hit in the Midwest.

The “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise is set to end with its third and final movie, but the cast’s group text isn’t going anywhere.

Chukwudi Iwuji was a kid growing up in Nigeria and Ethiopia, he imagined he could fly. The second youngest of five, he would spend hours on his own, meticulously reenacting scenes he’d seen on TV, playing every part himself. Virtually all of what captured his imagination were American shows and films from the 1970s and ’80s: “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Godfather” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” via broadcast reruns and bootleg VHS tapes. After he first saw “Star Wars,” he would stare intensely at a plastic cup, willing it to move. And “Superman,” of course, convinced Iwuji he could leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Chris Pratt so perfectly embodies Star-Lord in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies that it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role.