James Gunn has spent much of the past few weeks preparing the very first teaser trailer for next year's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." The teaser trailer will follow on the heels of the sneak peek that debuted a few months ago, and it also has an iconic predecessor to live up to. The first teaser for 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy" has become nearly iconic in its status, thanks to how expertly it established the tone of the film.

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The mash-up of stunning visuals, smirky and self-deprecating humor and "Hooked On A Feeling" made that teaser an instant classic, but as writer/director James Gunn recently told The Hollywood Reporter, it almost didn't happen.

"That [first teaser] trailer [for 'Guardians of the Galaxy'] tested not very well," said Gunn. "We had another trailer that was very cheesy that sold the movie as something different than what it was — that tested a little better... And at the end of the day, the [marketing] guys were like, 'This is what the movie is. We are selling what the movie is. Not something else.' You've got to sell the movie for what it is, and that's what they did. They really bought my trust with that on the first movie."

Now Gunn is turning his attention to the first full-length teaser trailer for the sequel, which Gunn says is complete. Gunn told THR that he met with Marvel's marketing team earlier this week to talk about how much they wanted to show from the film in this teaser. "We were talking about how much to give away -- and we're not going to give away very much," said Gunn.

The director said it's difficult to cut a trailer for a movie like "Guardians" because "people really go through every single little shot and try to figure out what the movie's about. And there's a lot of mysteries in 'Guardians 2.'"

Even just one shot can reveal too much about the film. "With 'Guardians,' it's such an emotional and physical journey, going to all these different places. It's like, 'God, do I really want to show this planet we go to in the middle of the movie?'... Those are always hard choices to make." But now that we know the teaser trailer is complete, odds are we'll see it sooner rather than later -- and we'll get to analyzing it frame by frame.

Opening May 5, 2017, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki and Kurt Russell.