James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 topped the weekend box office with a domestic opening of $114 million, well behind the last film in the standalone Marvel Studios franchise but promising enough to fan hope that the movie is already benefiting from strong audience sentiment. The news was even better overseas, where the superhero pic started off with a better-than-expected $168.1 fitness million for a global start of $282.1 million. That included a No. 1 finish in China with a $28 million debut, ahead of the last Guardians (most Hollywood movies have been doing nominal business in China). Any domestic opening over $100 million in the post-pandemic era is nothing to be dismissed. Still, Guardians‘ initial performance in North America is mixed news for Marvel and Gunn — who now runs rival DC Studios — and is sparking further concern that superhero fatigue has settled in at the box office as the 2023 summer season kicks off. Only a year ago, for example, Marvel threequel Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness soared to a series-best $187 million in its domestic launch. Guardians 3 certainly doesn’t lack for audience love; it earned an A CinemaScore and strong exit scores on PostTrak, and it’s already paying off. On Saturday morning, Marvel and Disney thought the movie might clear no more than $110 million for the weekend, but traffic was better than expected throughout Saturday and saw a bump over Friday. If that trend continues, the threequel could enjoy a long run. Reviewers feel differently than do consumers, with the movie sporting the lowest Rotten Tomatoes critics score of the three films. In 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opened to $146.2 million, while the first Guardians opened to $94.2 million domestically in 2014, not adjusted for inflation. It’s unusual for a title in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to open behind the previous installment in a respective series but not unheard of. Sequels that didn’t open as high include Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which was released as the COVID-19 pandemic still raged, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Guardians 3 opened on par with recent Marvel pic Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which posted a series-best domestic opening of $106 million and $120 million for the four-day Presidents Day weekend. That movie, however, was ultimately considered a disappointment after topping out at 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. Heading into the weekend, most recent tracking showed Guardians 3 opening in the $110 million to $120 million range domestically. Initial tracking showed it launching to $130 million, so the drop no doubt concerned Marvel and Disney. Guardians 3 reunites Gunn with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Newcomers include Chukwudi Iwuji as villain the High Evolutionary and Will Poulter, who plays classic Marvel character Adam Warlock. After ruling the roost for four weekends, Universal and Illumination’s billion-dollar blockbuster The Super Mario Bros. Movie — with Mario voiced by Pratt — finally fell to No. 2 with an estimated $18.6 million for a hefty domestic total of $518.2 million and north of $1.16 billion globally. Elsewhere, Screen Gems and Sony’s romantic comedy Love Again dared to open opposite Guardians 3 since it’s going after a different audience (females). The movie appears to be DOA with a projected opening of $2.4 million, only good enough for a fifth-place finish. Written and directed by Jim Strouse, Love Again stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan and Celine Dion (who provided multiple new songs for the female-skewing pic). More to come. The original version of this story was published May 6 at 8:13 am PT.
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