Explore Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Special Effects, Blu-Ray, And Vinyl Soundtrack
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Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is still in the top ten in the weekly box office rankings, a spot is hasn’t vacated since the space adventure hit theaters on August 1, and earning more than $645 million worldwide, there’s still a ton of interest in the mismatched crew of interstellar outlaws and misfits. To that end, we’ve got a video that looks into some of the special effects from the film, new details about the Blu-ray release that should please Marvel fans, and a look at Mondo’s vinyl release of the popular soundtrack.
Director James Gunn made sure to use as many practical effects as he could, but given that this movie, aside from the first few moments, takes place entirely on strange, distant worlds—one of which is built inside the severed head of a celestial giant—that approach isn’t going to cut it in every situation.
Set to Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky,” this video shows how the various layers upon layers upon layers came together in post-production to create the final image you see onscreen. It’s a detailed, intricate process that involves buildings, characters, sprawling cityscapes, and even stunning views of entire galaxies. I’m glad I didn’t have to do this, but I’m glad there are people out there who can. It’s a testament to the quality of the work that, for scenes where literally everything but the characters (and in many cases some of them, too) is made out of pixels, things look this real.
Guardians of the Galaxy hits the home video market on December 9, just in time to fill up all of those Christmas stockings (though you can also buy a digital copy starting on November 18, in case you just can’t wait). It’s sure to have tons of fun bonus features and behind the scenes stuff, but one extra in particular is going to be of interest to fans of the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe. The disc will include an exclusive look at the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron.
With S.H.I.E.L.D. in smoldering ruins and the Avengers burned out, Tony Stark hopes to start a peacekeeping program with Ultron, a self-aware artificial intelligence. As is usually the case in these situations, something goes wrong, Ultron decides humans are the enemy, and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes get the band back together to save the day one more time. What this look entails remains to be seen, but it sounds promising.
Guardians makes great use of pop songs within the film, maybe as good as any major movie has in recent memory, and the soundtrack has proven incredibly popular as well. It’s certified gold, which means that it’s sold more than 500,000 copies. For the collectors out there, Mondo is releasing a vinyl version the album-which is appropriate for these songs-and, as usual, they’ve put together a spectacular product.
Not only is the album pressed on 180 gram vinyl, it’s also, fittingly enough, the color of the purple Infinity Stone, which is always a bonus. The packaging is all totally screen-printed, as you probably guessed, and it arrives with a random screen-printed handbill of one of the characters.
Here’s the front…
…followed by the back…
…and here are what all of the handbills look like.
While you can preorder this release already, you might want to explore other, more immediate avenues if you’re really hankerin’ to hear Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling” like right now. These won’t actually be delivered until sometime in 2015. Just something to consider.
