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Guardians 3 just went through its second weekend at the box office, and the film has secured the best second-weekend performance since the beginning of Phase 4. Besides Shang-Chi, Eternals, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, every movie since Endgame had a 67% or bigger drop in their second-weekend earnings at the domestic box office.
Shang-Chi dropped by 54%, while Eternals and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dropped 62% and 63%, respectively. But Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has had the best second-weekend performance for an MCU movie since Black Panther.
Guardians 3 continues to perform well at the box office
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 opened with $118 million and has brought in another $60.5 million in its second weekend. The good word of mouth on this movie has really worked, as it dropped by just 48.9%. No MCU movie has dropped less than 50% since 2018’s Black Panther (44%).
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With these numbers, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s total comes to $213 million at the domestic box office and $528 million worldwide. It has already beaten Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($475 million) and will certainly cross $600 million by the next weekend (if not $650M).
But despite the good word of mouth and critical rating, the incoming competition from Fast X, The Little Mermaid, and other summer movies could hinder Guardians 3’s success.
Will Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 enter the Billion Dollar Club?
Unfortunately, Guardians 3 hasn’t had the kind of star that would lead it to $1 billion. Compared to the previous movies, Vol. 3 stands between Vol. 1 & 2. The first one made $94.3 million on its first weekend and went on to earn $333.7 million domestically and $773 million worldwide.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opened with an intake of $146.5 million domestically and ended its total run with $389 million from North America and $863 million globally. So, with its current progression, Guardians 3 should end up between Vol. 1 & 2.
A billion dollars is still possible for Vol. 3, but with two other Billion Dollar contenders (Fast X and The Little Mermaid) releasing in the next two weekends, the numbers of Vol. 3 are bound to drop. The film may not end up with numbers lower than the first film, but it could still stay behind Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 if it doesn’t perform well against Fast X.
Why Guardians 3 would have performed better if Gunn wasn’t fired
Before James Gunn was fired, he had already written the script for Vol. 3 and was ready to begin production. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was scheduled to release in May 2020. But Gunn’s firing just delayed everything as he got hired to do The Suicide Squad and even shot Peacemaker before getting back to his final Marvel project.
If COVID-19 had not struck and Gunn wasn’t fired, then Guardians 3 would have definitely made $1 billion. All of 2019’s MCU movies (Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home) exceeded $1.1 billion. This was an era when the hype for MCU was at an all-time high.
So, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would have definitely had that hype if it came out in May 2020. But now, with MCU and Superhero fatigue, there’s a possibility that it might only end up posting the second-worst numbers for a Guardians movie despite being so good.
