Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 blasted off to a $114 million domestic box office debut this weekend.
Those sales were good enough for the second-biggest opening weekend of the year, behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned $146.
Lower Debut Than Expected
While the Guardians opening weekend total is certainly nothing to scoff at, the film did just barely miss its projection of $120 million.
More concerning for Marvel, however, may be that Guardians 3 failed to top its predecessor, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which opened to $146 million in 2017.
Photo: Marvel
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 now joins Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avengers: Age of Ultron as the only Marvel sequels to fail to top their predecessor’s opening weekend.
Strong International Results
At the international box office however, Guardians 3 hauled in another $168 million, bringing its global total to $282 million.
Photo: Marvel
Disney and Marvel will be happy to see that the film did better than expected in China, earning $28 million in a country that has largely turned against Hollywood’s fare.
The Key is Longevity
For Guardians 3, the big test will come in the coming weeks. While Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania opened to franchise-record numbers, the film quickly died at the box office, putting Marvel’s long-held supremacy in jeopardy.
“Bear in mind,” warns David A. Gross, head of the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, “For superheroes, average is in the stratosphere.”
With Fast X and The Little Mermaid set to be released in the coming weeks, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. will have competition. Despite this, Marvel hopes that good critical reviews and strong audience word of mouth can continue to propel Guardians 3 into the stratosphere.
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