- Disney (DIS -0.5%) has fired director James Gunn from the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise after a blogger unearthed older offensive tweets making light of topics including pedophilia and rape.
- Gunn had directed the first two films in the series and was set to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, set for 2020 release.
- “The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James’ Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio’s values, and we have severed our business relationship with him,” says Disney studio chairman Alan Horn.
- The first two Guardians films grossed a combined $723M domestically for Disney (and a total of $1.64B in worldwide terms).