Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 reaches a major milestone at the box office

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hit a major milestone at the global box office in its second weekend in theaters.

According to Deadline, the Marvel Studios trio passed the half-billion checkpoint and grossed an estimated worldwide total of $528.8 million. $213.2 million of that total came from domestic revenue, while $315.6 million came from the international box office. Flight. 3Global revenue in 2023 makes it the second highest global Hollywood release. Internationally, the film is on track to top total earnings in 2014. guardians of the galaxythe first entry in the series, which grossed $318 million.

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While Flight. 3 suffered a 40% drop from its opening to its second weekend, it’s still better than other Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, including the original Guardiansits 2017 sequel Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Black Panther: Wakanda ForeverAnd Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Despite this world record at the box office, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. remains the trilogy’s top opening weekend, grossing $146 million domestically in its first weekend, with a worldwide box office of over $427 million that same weekend. Relatively, Flight. 3 earned $114 million domestically in its first weekend, with a worldwide total of $282.1 million.

GOTG Vol. 3 Closing the MCU Trilogy

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 marks the final entry in the MCU trilogy, which was written and directed by James Gunn. While the movie is the latest iteration of this particular Guardians team, Gunn has hinted at the possibility of the team continuing in some capacity in a future MCU project. “It wouldn’t be unfair of them to continue in the Marvel Universe at all,” he said, adding that he “would love to see all the remaining characters get solo movies, or join the Avengers, or a new version of the Guardians, or whatever.”

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In a previous interview, Gunn promised that Flight. 3 would not only subvert audience expectations, but also set a darker tone than previous films. Since its release, some audience members have questioned the film’s PG-13 rating, with others describing it as “disturbing”, “dark”, and “brutal”.

Flight. 3 follows the Guardians as they embark on a dangerous mission to save Rocket Raccoon’s life. Gunn previously revealed that he considers Rocket to be the “secret protagonist of the Guardians movies”, and that Flight. 3 is largely a way to properly wrap up the character’s story arc. “I think he exemplifies a lot of the traits of all Guardians. They’ve had all these traumas, and it brings them together. I just think his [trauma] is more extreme than the others.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 sees the return of Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Karen Gillan as Nebula and Vin Diesel as Groot. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now in theaters.

Source: Deadline