Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Fixes Bad Box Office Trend After MCU Endgame

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3Opening weekend fixes the bad trend for the MCU. Although it earned less in its opening weekend than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3is reversing a trend that has become one of the box office’s biggest problems post-Avengers: Endgame MCU movies. The film has only been hitting theaters for a short time, but its performance already stands in stark contrast to other recent MCU films that have struggled to maintain momentum at the box office after their first week in theaters.

THE guardians of the galaxy movies have always been in their own corner of the MCU, and while their box office performances have never crossed the $1 billion mark like some of the MCU’s biggest hitters, the $772.8 million guardians of the galaxy and $863.6 million from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is pretty awesome for movies about a talking raccoon. The MCU’s box office has become less reliable than it once was, but its second-weekend results for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 show a strong grip and could signal a big reversal of one of the MCU’s worst box office trends.

Related: Guardians of the Galaxy 3 Ending Explained (What’s Happening, What’s Next & What It Means)

The MCU has a box office problem after the end of the game

Avengers: Endgame earned $2.8 billion and became the second highest-grossing film of all time, but the MCU’s box office developed a disturbing trend during Phases 4 and 5. There were certainly some big hits. as Spider-Man: No Coming Homewhich grossed $1.9 billion and became the 7th highest-grossing film of all time, but many more post-Stakes the films struggled at the box office, seeing smaller opening weekends and worse legs. The problem has reached a low point with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniawhich opened higher than Ant-Man and the Waspbut crashed in the following weeks, eventually earning less than its predecessor.

While post-pandemic breakout films like Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of the WaterAnd The movie Super Mario Bros. all achieved massive success because of strong legs, not because of massive opening weekends, the MCU went in the opposite direction. MCU Phase 3 movies earned an average of 36% of their box office in their opening weekend, but Phase 4 jumped to 37% and then Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicked off. Phase 5 earning nearly 50% of its total box office opening weekend. Phases 4 and 5 also saw the MCU’s first two “Rotten” scores in Rotten Tomatoes, signaling trouble for the franchise.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Has One Of The Best Box Office Outings Of The MCU’s Second Weekend

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 earned good reviews with a score from Fresh Rotten Tomatoes and one of the highest ratings in the MCU in Rotten Tomatoes, but its opening weekend box office of $118.4 million was 28 million dollars less than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3The low opening weekend box office was obviously slightly concerning given the MCU’s recent tendency to have bad legs, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 went on to earn $62.6 million in its second weekend, a drop of just 47.1%, the second-best drop in MCU history only behind Black Pantherdown 44.7% after opening $202 million.

The 47.1% drop is so good that it brings the Phase 5 average back – after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniathe MCU’s worst drop of 69.9% – to 58.5%, which is lower than the average drop of 64.4% from the second weekend of Phase 4, which officially signifies the reversal of the trend higher from second weekend lows. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2The second weekend’s 55.5% drop was above the MCU average, so if Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 can maintain its strong performance with at least a 3.29 multiplier (better than all but three MCU movies), it has a fighting chance Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2is $389.8 in the national total.

Why is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s box office is exactly what the MCU needs

The consistent and reliable performance of MCU movies in Rotten Tomatoes and at the box office from Phases 1-3 has made the MCU the de facto gold standard for blockbuster movie performances, so the decline in review scores and Phase 4 and 5 box office performance has not only raised concerns for the health of the MCU, but has also reignited fears of long-heralded “superhero fatigue.” The downward trend and frontloading of the MCU’s box office is a pretty clear sign that the target audience is still showing up and the mainstream is tuning out, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3The box office allays some of those fears.

There is still a very clear problem with the downward trend in critical ratings and box office after Avengers: Endgame in Phase 4 and especially Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in Phase 5, but the good news for Marvel Studios is not due to “superhero fatigue” and audiences reject comic book movies as a whole. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 proves that the right movie can always get audiences to buy movie tickets, and quality cinema can ensure that the box office doesn’t disappear after the first weekend. Thus, while other post-End of Game movies are always worrying, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is proof that Marvel Studios can fix the problem.

It’s unclear how the rest of the MCU’s Phase 5 will fare at the box office, but the next two movies, Wonders And Captain America: New World Order are both movie sequels that have grossed over $1 billion and topped the MCU’s average second-weekend drop, which could be a good sign. Certainly, with BladeScript issues and the writer’s strike, the rest of Phase 5 might have more immediate issues to deal with before even worrying about box office potential.

As for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, its full box office performance won’t be known for many weeks, but so far it defies the MCU’s post-negative.Avengers: Endgame, giving Phase 5 a much-needed boost. Whether Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 keeps its good legs at the box office, it will still fall well under the billion dollar mark, like all the others guardians of the galaxy movies, but his arrival couldn’t come at a more important time for the MCU.

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