Speculation on the Net is running rife concerning which Marvel Studios films will be released during two weekends in 2016 that Disney has claimed for as yet unidentified Marvel releases.  One of those dates, May 6, 2016 would appear to put a Marvel movie in direct competition with Warner Bros. release of its Batman/Superman film, which was recently pushed back to May 6, 2016 from its original announced date of June 26, 2015 (see "Ouch!  'Superman/Batman' Movie Bumped to 2016").
 
Now the movie site JoBlo.com is reporting that “a reliable source” is telling it that one of the two Marvel Studios films due in 2016 (though not necessarily the May 6 release) will be a sequel to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which debuts in theaters on August 1 of this year.  The site also claims that its source has confirmed rumors that a Guardians of the Galaxy animated series is in the works with a potential debut on Disney XD in the fall of 2015. 
 
Would Marvel be making such expansive plans for the Guardians of the Galaxy property before knowing how the public will react to the first Guardians movie?  Well it certainly is clear by now that Marvel Studios is planning its interconnected web of movies far into the future, and while the studio runs some risks by investing in the development of scripts that may never be made into films, the tremendous success of The Avengers (and the major "Avengers" bumps that Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World received) has undoubtedly emboldened the powers that be at Marvel and Disney.
 
Bottom line is that if Guardians is a hit this summer, don’t be surprised if Marvel wants to get a sequel out in two years--and an animated series would also make sense for the property.  But when a studio is as tight-lipped as Marvel, it’s a cinch that we won’t know for sure until the official announcements are made.