1. Guardians of The Galaxy.
It’s the little film that could. This was the biggest question mark of the whole summer. An obscure comic-book adaptation starring a tree and a talking racoon, this could so easily have been 2014’s The Ice Pirates. The response to the first trailers provoked bewilderment rather than excitement and the August release date, so often a mark of Cain, suggested that confidence was low. In fact, it gave Guardians the entire month to play with, troubled only by some ninja turtles. The most fun to be found in the cinema for years, Guardians of The Galaxy was an unalloyed joy. In a summer full of boringly familiar faces, it felt as though you were meeting your new best friends for the first time. Director James Gunn hasn’t received nearly enough credit for delivering on the promise of his great early work. Zoe Saldana was enchanting (even though she looked like she was made of marzipan) and when Chris Pratt mimes Come and Get Your Love using a space chameleon as a microphone, we all witnessed that rare thing – a superstar being born. For the third year in a row, Marvel takes the top spot with $258m so far, and in the process was rewarded with a brand new franchise. Like it needs another one.
