Box office preview: ‘Fast X’ rises to the top of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’

We’re three weeks into the summer movie season, and it’s a lot like the previous months where only one or two movies do well, while everything else flounders. Read on for the box office preview of Gold Derby.

This week’s high-profile release is “Fast X,” the 10th installment in the Universal franchise that began in 2001 with “The Fast and the Furious,” a surprise hit at the time, making stars of Wine Diesel And Paul Walker. Both returned in 2009 for the fourth film “Fast & Furious”, directed by Justin Linwho stayed for three films including 2021’s “F9”.

Lin left “Fast X” as director, to be replaced by Louis Letterier (“The Incredible Hulk”, “Now You See Me”) but Lin’s script was used for what will be the first part of the franchise’s finale. It was originally supposed to be a two-part finale, but Diesel recently said it will actually be a three-part finale, so we’ll have to see if that happens or not.

SEE ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. Trailer 3’: The end of the road for James Gunn

The big addition of this episode is Jason Momoa (“Aquaman”) as Dante Reyes, a much more flamboyant villain than we’ve seen in those movies, who also wants revenge on Diesel’s Dom Toretto for a past offense (in his case, the events of ” Fast Five” from 2011). Also joining the cast are two Oscar winners in Brie Larson And Rita Morenojoining former Oscar champions Helen Mirren And Charlize Theron. Other characters played by John Cena And Jason Statham return to supporting roles.

“F9” opened in late June 2021 with $70 million, better than 2019’s “Hobbs and Shaw” spin-off, which opened with $60 million, but it was the franchise’s weakest performance since the Diesel and Walker’s return to 2009. At least with “F9” we could attribute the pandemic to a weaker opening, but with theaters back in business, “Fast X” really needs to do better if Universal could consider him give an extra movie. Luckily, these movies tend to always do better overseas than in North America, which could play a big role whether we see two more street racing movies or just one more.

Despite opening in over 4,000 theaters, including large format screens like IMAX, “Fast X” may open slightly slower than “F9”, between $64-70 million, but it really depends on the quality. of critics, as it seems adamant even fans might grow weary of the franchise and its “family.”

SEE May 2023 box office preview

james gunn“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” did particularly well last weekend, dropping just 48% from its opening weekend to earn $62.6 million (more than Sunday’s estimates ), which was one of the best second-weekend showings for a Marvel sequel. Even with the odds of losing premium-format screens to “Fast X,” it should still be able to reap between $30 and $35 million in its third weekend as word of mouth continues to spread.

There are a number of interesting limited releases opening this weekend, as NEON will release Zachary Wigonthe drama “Sanctuary,” featuring Margaret Qualley And Christopher Abbott, in an unknown number of theaters after buying the film at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. There’s also the sci-fi romantic comedy “Robots,” starring Jack Whitehall And Shailene Woodleywhich will be published by NEON Decal division.

Oscar nominated filmmaker Paul Schrader (“American Gigolo”) returns with his new film “Master Gardener”, starring Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver and newcomer Quintessa Swindellwhich will get a limited release through Magnolia Pictures this weekend.

IFC Films and Bleecker Street Films are likely to expand their “Monica” and “Starling Girl” dramas to more theaters this weekend based on their respective releases on the platform last week, although only “Monica “is likely to be found throughout the country.

Check back on Sunday for the weekend recap to see how all of the above went.

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