Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Release Date Set For May 2023

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 officially gets a May 2023 release date. After encountering numerous delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase 4 is finally in full swing. The studio's slate includes a number of new TV shows made for Disney+ including the recently-aired WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, but it will of course also feature plenty of Marvel's trademark tentpole blockbusters. One of the most anticipated films on the horizon is Guardians of the Galaxy 3, which will end the story for this iteration of the team after they made their debuts back in 2014.

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At one point, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was poised to release in 2020 at the outset of Phase 4, but that was before director James Gunn was initially fired from the project. Disney, of course, eventually rehired Gunn, but Guardians of the Galaxy 3 had to be put on hold while Gunn worked on DC's The Suicide Squad. Now, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is ready to start filming this year. It had already been confirmed the movie was going to come out at some point in 2023, and an exact release date is officially announced.

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In a video celebrating movies and the collective experience of going to the theater, Marvel revealed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will release on May 5, 2023 - exactly six years after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 came out.

Dating back to the original Iron Man in 2008, Marvel has traditionally staked claim to an early May release date, marking the beginning of summer movie season. Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is the latest to land in that prime slot, which isn't surprising considering the amount of success the sub-franchise has had up to this point. Despite being based on an obscure comic book property, the film series has gone on to become one of the MCU's most popular, totaling $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office. The expectation is Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will also be a huge hit, especially since there'll be pent up demand to see the characters onscreen. While the Guardians factored into Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, they haven't been the main focus of a new movie since 2017.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3's release date also ensures Gunn and company should have plenty of time to complete the film well in advance. For comparison, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was in principal photography from February to June 2016, roughly one year before the movie premiered. This time, the cast and crew will have a little under two years, as cameras start rolling later in 2021. After the tumultuous road Guardians of the Galaxy 3 faced to get to this point, it's nice to see everything come together and it'll hopefully be smooth sailing from here.