Ant-Man survived Wright's exit and got a sequel and perhaps more.
Avengers survived Whedon's exit and got 2 more sequels.
Iron Man survived Jon Favreau's exit and is the face of the MCU right now.
Thor survived Branagh's exit and got better, too.
Captain America survived Joe Johnston's exit and well, yeah, that franchise is doing well, too.
Guardians will survive without Gunn and given Marvel's track record, probably be better for it.
"Always listen to the crazy scientist with a weird van or armful of blueprints and diagrams." -- Vibranium
Guardians 1 made about $773 million at the box office.
Guardians 2 made about $863 million at the box office.
Do you think Guardians 3 has any hope of continuing this trend after everything? Because I don't. Disney screwed up a franchise that has earned them over $1.5 billion.
Certainly Guardians is in a tough position. That said, considering marvels overall track record I wouldn't be shocked at all if it did as well. If anything you can frankly argue a LOT Of marvel movies did BETTER when they replaced the director. Not to say the same will happen in this instance... but I wouldn't bet against marvel at this point.
Yes Guardians 3 is going to take a hit,how big a hit remains to be seen.And its not like the entire MCU is riding on this movie.I doubt Disney's going to lose sleep over a couple million less that they could have made.
Of all the problems Marvel and Disney face or potentially face at this point, this is the very easiest thing to adjust for. It's literally trivial if it comes to it (though it won't).
Bautista has said explicitly he will do what he is contractually obligated to do. There is no chance he walks away.
No one has threatened to walk, and no one under contract will walk. I would expect that part of the negotiation with Gunn about his departure would include his public approval of the new director. Some of us might not take that too seriously, but it will be sufficient to kill the story, and 99% of the potential audience will not care even at the moment, even fewer in 2-3 years.
If the movie is well-made and is entertaining, people will buy tickets to see it. As rightfully outraged as we all have a right to feel about what's happened, it's a pipe dream that that this issue will significantly impact the box office either direction.
Guardians 3 may take a hit, but not because they changed directors. Because the new director isn't up to the job, perhaps, but Marvel has a pretty good track record of hiring directors.