By Brent McKnight | 6 years ago

It seems nuts that NBC’s Saturday Night Live has been on the air for 40 years, especially considering I haven’t enjoyed it in more than a random, momentary basis for like 20. (I’ve tried, I really have, but as much as I have fond memories of staying up late on weekends in junior high and endlessly dissecting it with my buddies the next Monday at school, it’s largely become too painful to watch.) Chris Pratt hosted the 40th season premiere last night, and, as you probably imagined, they spoofed Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel as a whole, and it’s kind of brilliant.

With the success of Guardians and it’s mismatched crew of assassins, weirdoes, bizarre creatures, and general ne’er-do-wells, it’s starting to feel like Marvel can do whatever the hell they want and make a ton of money. That’s the general gist of this digital short, titled Marvel Trailer.

The clip starts out pointing out how absurd the concept of next summer’s Paul Rudd-starring Ant-Man is. Which is spot on, that’s an unusual basis for a movie indeed. Then they take this to the extreme with Creatures of the Cosmos, where a pastry chef, Harlem Globetrotter, and a dude dressed as Grimace have to save the universe. And then they go even farther with Bus People, which is just four people they found on a bus, or Pam, which follows a normal lady named Pam. And because there are so many sequels, there’s even Pam 2: The Winter Pam.

Of course, this is all played for the absurd, but again, with their strategic marketing and world building approach, Marvel is on an insane hot streak and you have to wonder how long it’s going to last. If a movie about a talking raccoon and an eight-foot-tall alien tree, especially one where the two biggest stars are only voices, isn’t the one that makes audiences pause for a bit, what can’t they do? At this point they very well could take four random people on a bus and turn it into a movie I’ll want to watch. If you’re waiting for the first chink in their armor, we haven’t seen it yet.

Over the weekend, Guardians made its ninth consecutive appearance in the box office top ten, and met a few more milestones in that regard. At more than $319 million, it passed the domestic gross of Iron Man, and with $644 globally it passes Thor: The Dark World’s worldwide take. It is now the third highest Marvel earner at home behind The Avengers and Iron Man 3, and number four worldwide behind those two and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which it could conceivably catch eventually.

Guardians of the Galaxy hits Blu-ray and DVD on December 9, 2014, just in time to fill up Christmas stockings everywhere.