Guardians 3 box office triumphs over the original Guardians of the Galaxy

With Guardians 3, James Gunn completed his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, which is arguably the best within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All three Guardians movies have been critical successes, and now they’ve also become commercially profitable.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had a slightly lower start ($114 million) than the original estimates (between 120-$150 million). But it held strong across the following weeks and maintained a less than 50% drop in its following weekend numbers. After its fifth weekend, Guardians 3 has managed to beat the original Guardians of the Galaxy.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's views on the subject.

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Guardians 3 continues its winning run

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 dominates at the box office (image via Marvel)

As per Box Office Mojo, Guardians 3 drew another $10.2 million in its fifth weekend at the domestic box office. It dropped 51% from last weekend, and this week marked its first drop, which was more than 50%. Till now, the film has managed to make $322 million at the domestic box office and $780 million worldwide.

With this total, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has gotten ahead of the original movie’s $773 million worldwide total, but it is yet to beat the domestic total of $333.7 million. However, Vol. 3 will surpass this number in the coming weeks.

Compared with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Guardians 3 will fall short of its domestic and global totals, which are $389 million and $863 million. Vol. 3 came out in a very competitive period and still did well, but the numbers have finally started to drop, thanks to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

So, with the upcoming competition in June, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will definitely not be able to beat the franchise's second movie.

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Why Guardians 3 would have made a Billion Dollars if Gunn wasn’t fired

Pete Davidson in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (Image via Getty)

James Gunn had already written the script for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and was ready to begin production back in 2019 before he got fired from the project. The film was originally scheduled to arrive in May 2020, but the whole process of firing and rehiring Gunn delayed the film as he got hired to do The Suicide Squad and even shot Peacemaker before returning to Marvel.

Another additional point to be noted is that if COVID-19 had not struck and Gunn wasn’t fired, then Guardians 3 would have entered the Billion Dollar Club. Every MCU movie in 2019, including Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home, went north of $1.1 billion.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Image via Marvel)

The hype for MCU was at an all-time high after Endgame, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 would have benefitted from that, given that it is a very strong movie itself. Needless to say, it still hasn’t embarrassed itself as a number over $800 million is still commendable. But $1 billion is obviously better and gives any movie an elite status.

Guardians 3 did not reach that mark because the competition of Summer 2023 paired with MCU/Superhero fatigue diminished its success.