James Gunn dropped from GOTG 3

[numberthirty]

Yes, I can see the numbers. I can also see that movies that made $773.3 and $863.8 (as Guardians 1 and 2 did respectively) not already being classified as "massive successes" is moving the goal posts something fierce.

You don't know what kind of growth Guardians 3 would have had (and neither do I) after Infinity War and its sequel. And now we never will. For even if Guardians 3 ever actually comes out, it has been so tainted that we couldn't say what could have been.

Disney turned a sure fire hit into a massive fiasco. And undercutting this by saying "they'll be fine because they have (insert other massively popular IP here)" is a terrible way to run a business. But it's nothing new for Hollywood. It just boggles my mind how many people here will defend Disney from criticism over how they handled this.

While I don't "know", the movies that pulled off that increase in sales had one thing in common. Core "Avengers" members.

Could "Guardians" have done the same? Maybe. That said, they didn't have the component that the other runs had in common.

As for "Massive" successes, take a look at your own list. They round out the top ten. They are potentially dropping off of that list in the very near future.