The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has taken certain steps to distinguish itself from other superhero movies, even from its cohorts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of those ways has been through its music, as director/writer James Gunn has done an impressive job compiling music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s for Peter Quill to listen to as he travels across space and for moviegoers to jam to as these adventures unfold. Needless to say Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will continue on this melodious path, and Gunn is already considering an astounding amount of songs to include in the threequel. When asked on how the soundtrack is coming along, Gunn answered:
181 songs may not be a lot for folks who listen to tunes on their smartphone or MP3 player regularly, but for a movie, that is an absurd number, and James Gunn freely admits that number could grow. While Marvel releasing a giant 10-album collection comprising Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's soundtrack would be amazing, not only will that likely not happen, no doubt (if we're looking at this logically) Gunn will have to narrow down the selection even further as the creative process continues. One would imagine that he'll have to get the list down to around 100 songs, but even that is a lot to cram into one movie. Fortunately, since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 won't be hitting theaters for at least three years, Gunn has plenty of time to finalize what songs audiences will hear when they're seated in theaters.
While playing 181 songs in a feature film is a daunting idea, for Peter Quill, he now has the privilege of enjoying more than just two dozen songs across two tapes. Because his Walkman was destroyed while battling Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Peter has now upgraded to the Zune, Earth's state-of-the-art music technology...well, at least it was 10 years ago. But unlike his cassette player, Peter's Zune, given to him by Kraglin, can play up to 300 songs. Since Peter apparently hasn't been back to Earth since he was abducted as a child, the Zune is how he can catch up on some of what he's missed musically over the last three decades. Plus, even if Awesome Mix Vol. 3 only contains 12-14 songs like the previous two Mixes, there's no reason James Gunn couldn't show the full list of what's on Peter's Zune in the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 home media release as an special feature.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 doesn't have a release date set yet, but the Guardians will return to the big screen on May 4, 2018 for Avengers: Infinity War.
