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Fans and critics have been raving about James Gunn’s Guardians 3 ever since it opened on the world premiere. The movie has garnered a lot of praise, but that didn’t transition into the opening weekend’s box office numbers.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has performed better than the original movie. But it hasn’t met the early estimates for its box office opening, which hints at the fact that MCU fatigue is real and Marvel needs to continue taking active measures to resolve the situation.
Guardians 3 opens big, but not big enough
As per Box Office Mojo, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made $114 million on its domestic opening and stands at $282 million on the global charts. This opening is higher than the first film, which made $94.3 million on its first weekend and went on to earn $333.7 million domestically, and $773 million worldwide.
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But the performance is much lower than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which had an opening intake of $146.5 million and ended its total run with $389 million from North America and $863 million globally.
Box Office Pro initially reported that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 might take home somewhere between $288 - $403 million domestically.
However, with the kind of opening it has got, $288 million could also turn out to be a struggle unless the movie holds its own on its second domestic weekend.
Rave reviews and word of mouth from the fans could allow the film to hold strong and drop less than 50% in the coming weekends. But with MCU fatigue running rampant, especially after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians 3 could also continue the trend of almost all Phase 4 and Phase 5 movies dropping over 60% in its second weekend.
That’s also because most blockbuster movies have not performed as well as they used to in the pre-pandemic era. But the good thing for Vol. 3 is that, unlike most Phase 4 movies, it has secured a release in China ($28 million opening), which could add another 50-$70 million to its global total.
Why Guardians 3’s opening could be worrisome for Marvel
As far as the critics are concerned, James Gunn’s last MCU outing stands at a Rotten Tomatoes score of 81% fresh reviews and the Audience Score is also as high as 95%. Even the CinemaScore on this one is “A”, which means that those who are watching the film are absolutely loving it.
But the $114 million opening signifies that people weren’t as hyped for Guardians 3 as they were for 2022’s Phase 4 movies such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($187 million opening), Thor: Love and Thunder ($143 million opening) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($181 million opening).
So, the overall hype for MCU movies has diminished and they don’t necessarily have the same kind of sway they used to. Furthermore, apart from Shang-Chi and Eternals, every other Phase 4 and Phase 5 movie dropped by 67% or more on their second weekends.
So, with Marvel’s box office following a downward trend post-COVID, it’s likely that Guardians 3 might deliver similar numbers especially because of an incoming lock jam of potential summer blockbusters starting May 19.
