Any fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a little frustrated by now. The theatrical slate that was supposed to launch last May has been delayed more than a full year. However, if the movie you're waiting for is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 then things have been even more frustrating, as that was the movie that was originally supposed to come out in May of last year before James Gunn left the project forcing it's delay. The good news is that the film, with Gunn, is back on track, and when production does start on that film later this year, we're going to get even more GotG goodness.
It was already announced that The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which will hit Disney+ in 2022, will be filming alongside Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but now James Gunn has confirmed that one other project will also be shooting this year, one assumes right alongside the other projects, the live action sequences of Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the upcoming Walt Disney World roller coaster, will also be filmed very soon.
That makes three separate Guardians of the Galaxy related items that will apparently be filmed all at once. We know when the movie and the holiday special will arrive. The film is set for a release in 2023 and the holiday special will hit during the holiday season of 2022. So when exactly will we finally see Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind open at Walt Disney World.
The roller coaster is currently under construction and was slated to open alongside the Walt Disney World 50th anniversary this year. Of course, everything got delayed due to the global pandemic, but there's been no official announcement as to when the ride is expected to open. At this point an opening this year is all but impossible, especially considering that the filming for the ride hasn't happened yet.
I was wondering if Disney might have actually had Taika Waititi due to the filming for Cosmic Rewind when the Guardians cast was recently in Australia to film Thor: Love and Thunder, but it seems that didn't happen. Exactly when all this Guardians of the Galaxy filming is set to get started isn't clear yet. James Gunn has confirmed it will happen this year, but whether it's happening this summer, or this fall, we still don't know.
If the filming for Cosmic Rewind is done early in the production, so that the post production work can get started on it quickly, then that part of the new ride will likely be ready to go by early next year. There will likely only be a few minutes of total footage to be filled, some of it likely as part of the queue/pre-show, and then a little bit on the ride itself. While the ride is designed to tell a story in a unique way, it is a roller coaster so there can only be so much time to tell a story.
Still, it does mean that for us fans of Guardians of the Galaxy we're going to end up with a lot of fun stuff to enjoy after such a long break with nothing.
