Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 opens to US$282 million globally

There is nothing like the promise of a chapter closing to draw people to the movie theatre, especially when tied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This weekend, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3, which says goodbye to this iteration of the space misfits and its driving creative voice, director James Gunn, earned US$114 million in ticket sales from 4,450 locations in North America, according to studio estimates on Sunday (May 7).

Internationally, where the film opened in 51 territories not including China, Vol 3 earned US$168 million, giving it a $282 million (S$374 million) global debut.

Domestically, it’s both an impressive sum for any movie and slightly less than what we’ve come to expect from a Marvel opening. Last year on the same weekend, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, riding on the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, raked in US$187.4 million in its first three days in North America. And in November, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever also opened to over US$181.3 million.

But things have come back to earth this year, at least by high-flying superhero standards. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania debuted just over US$106 million on its way to US$474 million worldwide. At rival studio DC/Warner Bros, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods only made $133.4 million total. The question on some analysts' minds this weekend is whether it’s because of the specific character or a bigger issue of “superhero fatigue”.

Guardians Vol 3 bumped The Super Mario Bros Movie out of first place after four weekends atop the charts and kicked off the summer movie season, a vital and usually profitable corridor for Hollywood that runs through Labor Day and often accounts for 40 per cent of a year’s box office.

The next major superhero movie on the schedule is DC’s The Flash, set for Jun 16, which has its own flurry of intrigue around it because of star Ezra Miller's legal and personal troubles.

Guardians Vol 3 sees the return of actors Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Reviews have been mostly positive, but a little more divided than previous installments. And it remains difficult to compare a pre-pandemic opening such as Vol 2’s US$146 million debut (May 2017) with a post-pandemic one.

Vol. 3 is Gunn’s last Guardians/Marvel movie as he turns his focus to leading DC Studios.

The Super Mario Bros Movie added US$18.6 million in its fifth weekend to take second place, bringing its domestic total to US$518.1 million. Globally, it has now surpassed US$1.1 billion.

Third place went to Evil Dead Rise with US$5.7 million, and in fourth place was Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, with US$3.4 million – both were holdovers.

Studios left the weekend mostly clear for the superhero behemoth, but Screen Gems and Sony did debut their new Priyanka Chopra Jonas romantic comedy Love Again (featuring Celine Dion and some new songs) in 2703 locations. It made a modest US$2.4 million to take the fifth place spot.