Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 box office opens to $114 million – The Hollywood Reporter

James Jean Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 It topped the weekend box office with a $114 million domestic opening, well behind the last film in the standalone Marvel Studios franchise but promising enough to spark hope that the film is indeed capitalizing on strong audience sentiment.

The news was better overseas, as the superhero picture started with a better-than-expected $168.1 million worldwide start of $282.1 million. This included first place in China with a debut of $28 million, penultimate Guardians (Most Hollywood films have been doing a nominal business in China.)

Any domestic opening of over $100 million in the post-pandemic era is not something that can be ignored. Still, GuardiansThe initial performance in North America is mixed news for Marvel and Gunn – who now run rival DC Studios – and raises more concern that superhero fatigue has leveled off at the box office as the summer 2023 season gets underway. Just a year ago, for example, Marvel triquel Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness It rose to a series-best $187 million in its domestic launch.

Guardians 3 It certainly isn’t lacking in audience love; It’s got an A CinemaScore and strong exit scores on PostTrak, and it’s really paying off. On Saturday morning, Marvel and Disney thought the movie might not top $110 million for the weekend, but traffic was better than expected all day Saturday and had a bump on Friday. If this trend continues, the trio could enjoy a long run.

Reviewers feel differently than consumers, with the film having the lowest Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of the three films.

in 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 It opened to $146.2 million, while the first Guardians It opened to $94.2 million domestically in 2014, not adjusted for inflation.

It’s unusual for a title to open in the Marvel Cinematic Universe behind a previous installment in a certain series but it’s not unheard of. Includes sequels that did not open as high Black Panther: Wakanda Foreverreleased as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage, and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Guardians 3 It opened on par with the last Marvel picture Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which scored a series-best domestic opening of $106 million and $120 million for the four-day Presidents’ Day weekend. However, this movie was ultimately considered a disappointment after making less than $500 million, a franchise low.

the Guardians Threequel continues a long tradition of Marvel movies kicking off the summer season at the box office.

As the weekend approaches, show the latest tracking Guardians 3 Opening in the $110 million to $120 million range domestically. Initial tracking showed it shooting to $130 million, so the drop is undoubtedly something to do with Marvel and Disney.

Guardians 3 Gunn reunites with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Newcomers include Chukwudi Iwuji as a High Evolutionary villain and Will Poulter, who plays classic Marvel character Adam Warlock.

After dominating the roost for four weekends, Universal and Illumination became a massive multi-billion dollar hit Super Mario Bros movie — voiced by Pratt — finally slipped to second place with an estimated $18.6 million for a massive domestic total of $518.2 million and north of $1.16 billion worldwide.

Elsewhere, Screen Gems and the romantic comedy from Sony love again Dare to open the opposite Guardians 3 Since he is after a different audience (females). The movie appears to be DOA with a projected opening of $2.4 million, which is only good enough for fifth place.

Written and directed by Jim Strauss, love again stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan and Celine Dion (who introduced several new songs to the female pic).

More is coming.

The original version of this story was published on May 6 at 8:13 a.m. PT.