Box Office Preview: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Kicks Off Summer

Now that he’s the gatekeeper to DC Studios, James Gunn is bidding farewell to his work for rival Marvel with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in cinemas around the world this weekend.

Guardians 3 continues a long tradition of Marvel movies kicking off the summer season at the box office. It also takes place on the heels of CinemaCon, the annual gathering of theater owners and Hollywood studios in Las Vegas. This year’s show was decidedly upbeat despite the threat of a writers’ strike (the strike is now officially underway). The good mood was largely due to the resounding success of Universal and Illumination The movie Super Bros.who joined the box office billion club.

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Newest tracking numbers show Guardians 3 opening in the $120 million domestic range, significantly lower than the $146 million debut of 2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2but before the $94.2 million opening of the first Guardians in 2014, not adjusted for inflation.

It’s unusual for a Marvel Cinematic Universe title to open behind the previous installment of a respective series, but not unprecedented. Those who included the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – which was released while the pandemic was still raging – and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Insiders at Marvel and parent company Disney are keen to Guardians 3, and I think it will benefit from good word of mouth. Right now, however, the film currently has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes critics score of Gunn’s three films. It is also the longest of the series at two hours and 30 minutes.

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Box office analysts say they wouldn’t be surprised if Guardians 3 comes higher, and that follow-up has been complicated by the massive success of mariowhose voice is led by Guardians‘ Chris Pratt, who had to find the time to promote both films.

Marvel could use a bang after the disappointing box office performance of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniawhich opened before the previous two The ant Man installments but capped at a deductible of $476.4 million worldwide.

In terms of Guardian franchise, the 2014 film earned $333.7 million domestically and $439.6 million on a worldwide loot of $773.3 million, according to Comscore, unadjusted. Guardians Vol. 2 raised $863.8 million worldwide, including $389.8 million domestically and $473.09 million overseas.

China grossed $86.3 million of the first film’s total gross and $100.7 million for the 2017 sequel. But in the age of the pandemic, Hollywood has seen many of its films turned down by government authorities. Chinese – and Marvel titles in particular. And while Guardians 3 opens day and date in China this weekend, it comes up against a high-profile Chinese title.

Marvel insiders are praising Gunn for getting off to a strong start tinged with both emotion and humor. Guardians 3 reunites the writer-director with Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Newcomers include Chukwudi Iwuji as the High Evolutionary villain and Will Poulter, who plays classic Marvel character Adam Warlock.

This new guardians of the galaxy the film focuses on Rocket Raccoon, the character voiced by Cooper and played by Sean Gunn on set in motion capture.

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