Marvel‘s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is pumping up the volume at the box office with $17.5M in Thursday Preview screenings. While the film is off to a good start, analysts are rethinking their estimates for the movie’s total earnings throughout the weekend. Yesterday, number-crunchers put the third Guardians movie at $120M for its debut. However, those people wonder if the bloom is off the rose for threequels.
Disney isn’t too concerned about attendance for Guardians 3 yet. After polling audiences exiting Thursday Preview screenings, 94% had positive reactions to the film, with 80% saying they’d recommend it to friends and family. Marvel’s latest adventure is reviewed well by critics and fans, but word of mouth will be the critical factor in making Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 a box office banger.
87% of the general audience for Thursday consisted of hardcore to casual Marvel fans in the teens and above, while 13% included parents and their kids. The kids were also polled, with most giving the film a 4-star review. 68% of the kid audience consisted of boys. Meanwhile, general crowds were 43% guys over 25 (93% grade), 21% women over 25 (94% grade), 22% guys under 25 (95%), and 14% women under 25 (94%).
Hot on Guardians’ heels is The Super Mario Movie, which is about to cross the $500M domestic mark today. Super Mario recently crossed $1.059B worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 and the eighth-highest-grossing animated film.
The Guardians of the Galaxy sequel finds Peter Quill still reeling from the loss of Gamora. Still, he must rally his team around him to defend the universe and protect one of their own for a mission that, if not completed successfully, could likely lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.
James Gunn directs Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 from a script he wrote for Marvel Studios. Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Pom Klementieff, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rosenbaum, Sylvester Stallone, Will Poulter, Karen Gillan, Chuckwudi Iwuji, Sean Gunn, and Maria Bakalova lead the cast.
Do you think Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will surpass $120M during its opening weekend? Let us know in the comments.