'Guardians of the Galaxy' Has a Solid Opening

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 fell short of expectations for ticket sales on its opening weekend, but it still turned in the second-biggest debut of 2023 so far. A $114 million opening would be great news for most movies, but the movie's take was well short of that of its predecessor Guardians installment. Overall, the debut will do little to quell the speculation that the superhero genre may have passed its peak of popularity. Read on for details.

Via Variety.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” the conclusion to Marvel’s trilogy about an extraterrestrial crew of misfits, kicked off with $114 million in its domestic box office debut.

Those ticket sales rank as the second-biggest opening weekend of the year, behind “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” with $146 million. Despite the towering figure, the film ever-so-slightly missed expectations of $120 million and arrived considerably behind its predecessor, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” which debuted to $146 million in 2017. It’s a jump on the first “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which introduced the world to Chris Pratt’s Star Lord and his friends and opened to $94 million in 2014.

At the international box office, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” added $168 million from 52 markets, bringing its global tally to $282 million. In China, which was once a huge territory for Marvel but has been increasingly hostile toward most Hollywood movies, the comic book threequel collected a better-than-expected $28 million to start.

Premium large formats, including Imax and Dolby, accounted for 40% of the film’s opening weekend ticket sales. Imax alone delivered $10.7 million in North America and $25 million globally. “We expect the strong audience response to yield a long, successful run at the box office,” says the company’s CEO Rich Gelfond.

For “Vol. 3,” the next few weeks will be crucial as summer movie season kicks into high gear with “Fast X” on May 19 and “The Little Mermaid” on May 26. Disney’s superhero sequel needs to sustain momentum against those tentpoles to avoid the same ignominious fate as fellow Marvel installment “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which ignited earlier this year to a mighty $106 million before immediately collapsing at the box office. It failed to reach $500 million worldwide, ending that trilogy on a low note and reinforcing the narrative that Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe is struggling to maintain its luster as an A-list franchise.

Gunn returned to write and direct “Vol. 3,” which is his final Marvel movie before he takes the reins at rival comic book banner DC Studios. In the past, the “Guardians” movies have been promising box office performers. The first film ended its theatrical run with $333 million domestically and $773 million globally, while the follow-up tapped out with $389 million domestically and $863 million globally. Heading into the summer, there were predictions that “Vol. 3” would break records by the time it leaves theaters, but that’s no longer a guarantee. However, the studio is hoping that positive word of mouth, including the film’s “A” grade on CinemaScore and 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, prolongs its life in theaters.

Get the rest of the story at Variety.