James Gunn has opened up about being worried about the curse that often affects third films, as he prepares to release Guardians of the Galaxy 3 next year.
The '3rd film curse' has been a thing for many years - the first two are all-time classics, but it seems come the third film, producers have run out of ideas and we are left with a dud.
There are many examples here - Superman III, The Expendables 3 and Batman Forever, just to name a few.
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But with Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Gunn wants to change things and aims to break the cycle of third installments never really being up to scratch.
Speaking to Entertaiment Weekly, the director spoke on having his work cut out for him before even making Guardians of the Galaxy 3.
He said: "The amount of good third episodes in a trilogy, I can count them on one hand.
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"Basically, there's the 'Before Sunrise' series. 'Lord of the Rings.' Maybe 'Spider-Man.' But there's just not too many good third ones."
Gunn went on to say that the third film is the 'big one', stating that a lot of truths about the characters will be revealed in the upcoming Marvel film.
He said: "One of the reasons why I came back to [make] this movie was because I felt like I needed to tell Rocket's story.
"I would've been very sad not to complete the trilogy for many reasons, but I just feel very connected to Rocket. I feel like nobody would be able to tell his full story if it wasn't me."
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Gunn was full of praise for the popular racoon, describing him as a 'secret protagonist' for the franchise.
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He added: "To me, Rocket has always been the secret protagonist of the 'Guardians' movies. From the beginning, it has been rooted in who he is as a character.
"I think he exemplifies a lot of the traits of all the Guardians. They've had all these traumas, and it brings them together. I just think that his is more extreme than others.
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"He was just fine being an animal, and he was transformed into something else he didn't want to be.
"In Vol. 3, we learn a lot about his past — where he came from, who he is, and what he's been through. It's been a difficult road for the little animal."
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits screens on 5 May, 2023.
Topics: Film and TV, Marvel, James Gunn
Callum Jones