“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” the conclusion to the Marvel trilogy about an intergalactic crew of misfits, seems to kick off the summer movie season with a bang.
The superhero adventure hopes to bring in $120 million in its opening weekend, between the prequel to 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy ($94 million) and its 2017 sequel ($146 million). There’s a chance that “Vol. 3” might fall short of those expectations and move from $110 million to a less exciting $118 million, according to independent tracking services.
Of course, it’s hard to berate a movie that grossed $100 million in its domestic debut. But the idea, especially for the $200+ million supporting columns, is to grow the fan base, not shrink it, with new installments. “Guardians 3” has decent ratings (it holds 78% on Rotten Tomatoes) but sources say tracking has been stagnant in the run-up to its theatrical premiere. It indicates either a growing apathy toward the newer stage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or a sign that Disney waited too long to finish the “Guardians” saga, which began nearly a decade ago and turned Chris Pratt and Dave Bautista into bona fide movie stars and writer-director James Jean into a first-rate filmmaker. At the same time, there’s really no measure of a franchise as deep as 32 movies.
Not every comic book movie can set records. But other than the massive success of Sony’s Marvel series “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (one of six films to cross $2 billion worldwide), the MCU has struggled to pull off a billion-dollar success since 2019’s grand finale. game over.” Pandemic-era installments, including “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” have been particularly heavy at the box office. Earlier this year, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” continued this trend by smashing expectations with its massive $106 million debut, but failed to maintain momentum in the following weeks. It ended its theatrical run with just under $500 million worldwide, the worst score in Paul Rudd’s trilogy.
At the international box office, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is expected to add $130 million to $140 million from all markets including China, which is estimated to account for $15 million to $20 million of this disappointing total. . China, once a huge territory for Marvel, hasn’t been friends with any of the Hollywood movies (with the exception of Avatar: The Way of Water) in recent years.
Either way, ticket sales for “Guardians 3” will be more than enough to end the four-week box office run of Universal and Illumination’s animated movie “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which marks the year’s highest-grossing take with $490 million. domestically and $1.026 billion globally.
Elsewhere in North America, Sony’s romantic comedy “Love Again,” starring Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas and set against the backdrop of Celine Dion’s album, aims to earn $5 million from 2,650 theaters in its debut. The film, which features new songs from Dion, cost $9 million. Otherwise, merchandise holdings like “Mario” and its horror sequel “Evil Dead Rise” will crash off the box office charts.
Gunn returned to write and direct “Vol. 3,” his last Marvel movie before taking the reins at rival comic book studio DC. The sentimental tale brings back Pratt’s Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, and Vin Diesel’s Groot as they embark on one last mission, to protect Bradley Cooper’s missile from evil forces that threaten to disband the team.
in miscellaneous Reviewing, chief film critic Peter Debruge says the film comes to a “satisfying conclusion”. He wrote, “Gunn has been incredibly successful at striding the line between cynical self-awareness (on his part) and honest emotional investment (on ours).”