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‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ off to franchise-best start at the box office
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3′ is set for a strong opening weekend if Thursday previews are anything to go by.
The newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3′, is off to a strong start at the box office.
The film, which is the final entry for director James Gunn before his move to DC Studios, earned $17.5 million in Thursday previews.
Those numbers are a franchise-best, with the film expected to bring in between $110 million and $120 million during its opening weekend, which is in between the grosses of the previous two entries.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3′, which will expand to 4,450 theaters nationwide on Friday, has also made $35 million overseas after opening in 47 international markets.
The $17.5 million ‘Vol.3′ is a strong start for the final film in the franchise, with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ earning $11.2 million during its Thursday previews. It later earned $94 million during its opening weekend.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2′ earned $17 million during Thursday previews, before grossing $146 million during its opening weekend.
Marvel has high hopes for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3′
Marvel Studios are hoping ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3′ proves to be a success after ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ failed to deliver back in February.
The third instalment in the ‘Ant-Man’ franchise earned $17.5 million in previews and opened to $106 million, a franchise-best. However, numbers quickly dropped after the first weekend, as poor reviews hampered the film.
It ended up making less than $500 million globally, the lowest box office return for an ‘Ant-Man’ film.
The Hollywood Reporter states that Insiders at Marvel and Disney believe ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3′ will benefit from word of mouth. However, the film currently has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of the three films at 80 percent.
However, The Hollywood Reporter states that box office analysts wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3′ performs better than expected domestically.
That’s because ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ has made tracking numbers complicated, with Variety adding that the latest Marvel entry will take the box office crown from the Illumination hit by the end of the weekend.