‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Dethrones “Super Mario” at the national box office

by Disney Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives at the bottom of the projections in its first weekend. The third film in the beloved space opera superhero series is targeting a $110 million opening weekend after a $48.2 million Friday. The movie delivered the best streak of $17.5 million in Thursday previews, and it’s currently on track to finish between the first and second Guardians movies in terms of weekend counts.

Initial projections put the film’s three-day debut in the $130 million range, which would have been solid, but lower than the $146 million that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 generated in its opening weekend in 2017. The second Guardians film ended up grossing $389 million domestically and $863 million worldwide, surpassing the first guardians of the galaxy$333 million in domestic transportation and $773 million worldwide in 2014. The first guardians of the galaxy defied expectations to deliver a $94 million opening weekend, cementing the trust the public had in the Marvel Studios brand. The Guardians were, after all, an unknown quantity compared to some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most popular characters.

Despite a slightly better delivery on Thursday, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 paces behind the second film, which made $56 million on its opening day. In fact, the third movie’s $48 million on Friday is only slightly higher than the first movie’s $42 million gross nearly a decade ago. Does this reflect a growing disinterest in the MCU? Maybe. Reviews have been fairly positive, although the third film isn’t as well-regarded as the previous films, at least according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Though opening day audiences gave it an excellent A CinemaScore, which bodes well for its future.

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However, worryingly enough, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 currently works as the latest Marvel release, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. As Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Ant Man 3 also generated $37 million in advance sales and made $46 million on its opening day. It ultimately ended its run with $212 million domestically and a disappointing $474 million worldwide – lower than the previous two Ant-Man films. With both Thor: Love and Thunder And Black Panther: Wakanda Forever falling short of the global runs of their immediate predecessors, Marvel would like for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 to counter this trend.

Holdovers and a newcomer claimed the other four spots

It was a double at the top of the box office chart for Chris Prattwho, in addition to playing in Guardians of the Galaxy 3also voices the main character in The movie Super Mario Bros.. Now in its fifth weekend – having topped the previous four – the animated video game adaptation is targeting $18.5 million after grossing $4.2 million on Friday. The film’s running domestic total now stands at $503 million, and it remains to be seen if it has enough juice in its tank to top that. Incredibles 2$602 million lifetime to win the title of highest-grossing animated film of all time.

Sliding to number three after a few weeks at number two, the horror hit Evil Dead Rise grossed $1.6 million on its third Friday and is eyeing a $5.6 million weekend. This will bring the film’s domestic haul to $56 million; it currently sits at exactly $50 million. Coming in at number four with an estimated $3.3 million second weekend is the comedy-drama Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret. The well commented adaptation of Judy BlumeThe children’s novel couldn’t quite capitalize on its stellar reviews and stalled with $12.6 million domestically. The top five was completed by Sony’s romantic drama love one more time – featuring Priyanka Chopra Jonas And Sam Heughan. The film is also expected to gross $2.4 million this weekend, after $850,000 on Friday.

You can watch our interview with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 director james gunn here, and stay tuned to Collider for more box office coverage this weekend.