(NOTE: After the final numbers came in, Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3, the film actually came in higher at the box office than previously reported. Instead of $114 million, it actually hauled in $118M.)
Not surprisingly, Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 ruled the box office for a second weekend. It held quite well, dropping only about 49% to $60.5M, quite healthy for a major blockbuster, when most fans turn out on opening weekend, usually to avoid spoilers. This is the best hold for a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie post-pandemic, besting Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings which dropped 54% in its sophomore frame.
Ironically, both of these films opened lower than Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania but held up better due to positive word of mouth, whereas Multiverse and Quantumania were not well-received by general audiences and dropped steeply in subsequent weeks.
But audience and critical scores for this sequel are very positive, so expect less enthusiastic moviegoers to head to the cinema due to strong word of mouth. And audiences are reacting quite emotionally which should lead to repeat viewing… then again, maybe it will prevent some from seeing it again. Let’s just say, a lot of tears were shed.
Its running total sits at $213.2M.
Speaking of repeat viewing, The Super Mario Bros. Movie continues to level up adding another $13.3M for a domestic total of $536.2M.
Watch out, Jamie Lee Curtis. Another female actor of a certain age, Jane Fonda is also experiencing a renaissance — Jane Fonda. After already scoring a touchdown in February with 80 For Brady, she’s back in another older female-skewing friendship flick — Book Club: The Next Chapter.
Fonda costars with Candice Bergen, Diane Keaton, and Mary Steenburgen, reuniting after the 2018 original film.
80 For Brady both benefitted and suffered from theaters offering matinee pricing for all showings around the clock. As mentioned numerous times, older females are the audience slowest to return to multiplexes post-pandemic. BUT, due to the lower-priced tickets, the film didn’t make as much money as it would have if evening tickets had cost more.
While theaters didn’t offer lower pricing for Book Club 2, thanks to Mother’s Day, many offered incentives like free margaritas and mimosas. (Hell, I might check it out for that!)
Its Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score is not good at 47%. But this movie wasn’t made for critics. Its audience score is a much better 86%. It received a B CinemaScore from exiting audiences and an 81% positive from PostTrak.
Ultimately, Book Club 2 took in $7M over three days for a third-place finish.
Another older female-skewing flick, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, managed to hang in at #5 in its third frame. Earning an additional $2.5M, its running tally is now $16.4M.
Overall, this weekend’s haul looks to be $103.3M. Check out the Top Five below:
-
- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (Disney) – $60.5M/ Total $213.2M/ Wk 2
- Super Mario Bros Movie (Illumination/ Universal) – 3-day $13M/ Total $535.9M/ Wk 6
- Book Club: Next Chapter (Focus Features) – 3-day $6.5M/ Wk 1
- Evil Dead Rise (New Line) – 3-day $3.7M/ Total $60.1M/ Wk 4
- Are There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate) – 3 day $2.5M/ Total $16.4M/ Wk 3
Falling just outside of the Top Five was the new Robert Rodriguez action film Hypnotic starring Ben Affleck. It’s from the small studio Ketchup Entertainment, but being a smaller studio with less money to spend of promotion isn’t the reason this is bombing. It just plain sucks.
Its Rotten Tomatoes critical score is 38% although its audience score is 61%. But its CinemaScore ranking is a tepid C+, while it earned a 69% positive through PostTrak.
Hypnotic managed to scrape up $2.3M over the weekend. At least it did better than Knights of the Zodiac based on the anime Saint Seiya, which didn’t even make it into the Top Ten.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3‘s reign at #1 will likely come to an end next weekend, with the release of Fast X, another film in a beloved and popular franchise. This eleventh entry (not counting Hobbs & Shaw) is predicted to open in the range of $65-70M.
The “family” of Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Jason Statham, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, and Charlize Theron return. New additions include Captain Marvel‘s Brie Larson and Aquaman‘s Jason Momoa, as well as 80 For Brady‘s Rita Moreno, the latter of whom plays Dominic’s Abuella.
Do you plan to check out Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3 again, or will you be racing to see Fast X?
