The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe project to ever be conceived for the Disney+ streaming service.
A new featurette for the fast-approaching Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special touches upon exactly how writer-director James Gunn's festive Marvel project came to be. "It is the very first thing ever conceived from Marvel Studios for Disney+," Marvel Studios president and Marvel Entertainment chief creative officer Kevin Feige says in the featurette. Guarians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt subsequently describes the special as a "fantastic story vomited from the brain of a mad genius."
Later in the video, Feige further reveals that Gunn pitched the idea for the Holiday Special while on the set of the film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which was released in 2017, two years before Disney+ launched. "On the set of Vol. 2, James Gunn said, 'We should do a holiday special,'" the Marvel chief explains. "We all had a laugh. We thought that would be great... And then he wrote it, in like three days."
Marvel Studios Has Built a Big Presence on Disney+
While The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special may have been the first Marvel Studios project conceived for Disney+, it certainly wasn't the first one to be released. In fact, it's actually the second Marvel Studios television special to hit the platform, following Michael Giacchino's Werewolf by Night, which debuted this past October.
Furthermore, since early 2021, Marvel Studios has put out no fewer than seven live-action Disney+ original series as part of Phase Four of the MCU, namely WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, not to mention the animated series What If...?. Plenty more series are expected to hit the platform as part of Phase Five, starting with Secret Invasion in spring 2023.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Get Festive
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is due to premiere on Disney+ on Friday, Nov. 25. The special is written and directed by Gunn, who previously did the same for both of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy films thus far. Gunn returns for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is currently scheduled to premiere on May 5, 2023 as part of Phase Five.
The official synopsis for The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special reads as follows: "In the The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, the Guardians, who are on a mission to make Christmas unforgettable for Quill, head to Earth in search of the perfect present. The Marvel Studios’ Special Presentation stars Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, and Pom Klementieff, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Sean Gunn and The Old 97’s with Michael Rooker and Kevin Bacon."
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special premieres Nov. 25 on Disney+.
Source: YouTube