James Gunn’s goodbye to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 came in higher than it was projected, scoring $114 million during its opening weekend. (It was eyed to open to $110M.) That puts it over Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which debuted to the tune of $105.5M, but lower than both Thor: Love and Thunder ($145M) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($187M), the latter of which came out around the same time last year, to kick off the summer movie season.
In 2023, it seems the summer movie season came a bit early, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie already raking in over a billion dollars worldwide and opening with $146.36M. But, a $114M opening is something most films and studios would kill for, so this is still very much a success. Add in foreign box office and Guardians 3 is sitting at $282M.
The Rotten Tomatoes critical score is 81% with a lot of the criticisms aimed at the animal cruelty in the film. Its audience reaction is higher at 95%. But these types of movies deliver based on repeat viewing and the animal cruelty is a big turn-off to a lot of viewers.
Guardians 3 was the big draw this weekend and was the only movie that took in triple digits. The Super Mario Bros. Movie slipped to #2 with $18.6M. It’s going to digital next week, so its reign over theaters is coming to an end as parents are likely to buy this to babysit their kids. Evil Dead Rise is hanging in there at #3, with Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret coming in at #4.
The other newcomer this weekend that charted was the romantic comedy Love Again starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and featuring the music of Celine Dion. Alas, this is another movie like Are You There God? that, at this point, looks like anything you can watch on streaming at home. Why pay for this?
It may not help that Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ new series Citadel just hit streaming and has proven to be a hit. Maybe that’s all the Chopra Jonas that people need.
Check out the Top Five below:
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- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney) – 3-day $114M/Wk 1
- The Super Mario Bros Movie (Universal/Illumination) – 3-day $18.6M/ Total $518.1M/Wk 5
- Evil Dead Rise (Warner Bros.) – 3-day $5.73M/ Total $54.1M/Wk 3
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate) – 3-day $3.38M/ Total $12.6M/Wk 2
- Love Again (Sony) – 3-day $2.4M/Wk 1
No one is challenging Guardians 3 for a few weeks, so expect it to reign at least until Fast X and The Little Mermaid premier.
What are you checking out at the cinema?
