While all of this may sound a bit crazy, it’s actually not too far from the norm for a huge blockbuster like this. For example, most Marvel movies end up with around 500 variations to suit the needs of most theaters. The record, however, belongs to “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which was delivered in more than 1,000 versions. More than anything, it demonstrates how different the experience can be from one theater to another.
Some examples of variations on “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” include one that features around 45 minutes of the film in a 1.85 aspect ratio, with the rest of the film letterboxed at 2, 39, which will be available in certain “traditional” theaters and some Dolby Cinema auditoriums. There’s also one that only uses the 2.39 aspect ratio, and an IMAX 1.90 version. There’s also a 3D format that will take advantage of the single format. Fortunately, as he explains Jacobs, getting all of this done on time wasn’t as hectic as it could have been because Gunn drove so well.
“Marvel has become almost a legend in the post-production community for pushing so hard on deadlines and waiting until the last minute to make the movie as good as it can be. [But] the movie was pretty solid. It was the movie I was going to do at first… We didn’t have to chase a lot of crazy things, and the visual effects landed in a rational and sensible way. We’ve all been like pinching ourselves. It would have been more difficult, frankly, to fit this type of creative vision into a different delivery schedule. But we had the time and we were able to make it work.”
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” will hit theaters on May 5, 2023.