Global Courant 2023-05-07 21:05:46
Still from “Guardians of the Galaxy. Vol 3” by Marvel Studio.
disney
James Gunn’s ragtag group of criminals-turned-heroes snagged $114 million at the domestic box office on their third foray into movie theaters.
disney and Marvel Studio’s “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” grossed another $168.1 million from international markets this weekend, bringing its total worldwide gross over its first three days in theaters to $282.1 million.
“The time-honored tradition of a Marvel movie kicking off the summer movie season continues and with a debut of more than $100 million,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Marvel Cinematic Universe movies now account for half of the dozen films that have opened for more than $100 million in ticket sales in the US and Canada since the start of the Covid pandemic.
“Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” fell slightly short of expectations, which expected the film to snag between $120 million and $150 million during its opening frame. It also fell short of the $146.5 million “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2” collected in 2017.
“Expectations were certainly higher for the opening of ‘Vol. 3,’ but maybe that was unfair to a trilogy capper that was actually the sixth movie to feature these characters in less than a decade,” said Shawn Robbins, lead analyst. at BoxOffice.com. “The wider collateral damage of mixed reception towards various post-‘Endgame’ movies and streaming series is certainly worth considering, as is the fact that ‘Vol. 3’ was sold as a standalone movie without the sort of hook that would. imply big ramifications for the wider MCU.”
Robbins said the film acts more as an epilogue to some popular Marvel characters and less as a table-setter for future stories within the Marvel Universe. But that doesn’t mean the movie can’t continue to draw foot traffic to movie theaters, he said.
If early audience reactions are telling, this sequel’s box office legs could stretch over the next few weeks and bring back some of Marvel’s casual audience that has chosen to wait for word of mouth in instead of rushing through opening weekend,” Robbins said.
The film drew about 8 million visitors to domestic theaters this weekend, up from the 7.2 million that came out in February for Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” According to Entelligence data, about 28% of these moviegoers chose to see the movie in a premium format, spending an average of $4.34 more per ticket.
“‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3’ marks the beginning of what promises to be one of the most important and blockbuster-filled May through Labor Day periods in industry history,” said Dergarabedian, noting that ticket sales between May and September could exceed $4 billion, similar to pre-pandemic levels.
The release of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” also marks the symbolic end of Gunn’s time at one comic studio and the beginning of his reign at another.
The writer and director have been put at the helm Warner Bros.” DC Studios teamed up with producer Peter Safran to bring new take on Superman, Batman and even Swamp Thing to the big screen. Gunn and Safran will also develop a number of television shows for the studio.
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