Despite the fact the pandemic has made tracking notoriously unreliable, opening projections for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 dipping from $130 million to $110 million saw some pundits dismiss the threequel as the latest example of "superhero fatigue."
A $20 million drop hardly seems indicative of moviegoers growing tired of a genre many critics would seemingly love to see go the way of the Western. However, $110 million still wasn't the massive opening you'd necessarily expect for a conclusion to a popular trilogy, so it's easy enough to see why at least some questions have been raised about the latest MCU movie's performance.
Well, according to Deadline, after a higher-than-expected Saturday with $38.7 million, industry estimates now point to a $116 million opening weekend!
After initially debuting with 78% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's since been "Certified Fresh" with 81% and has a 95% Audience Score. The movie also received an "A" from those polled by CinemaScore, so positive word of mouth has kicked in and Vol. 3 is thereby performing better than expected.
Current signs suggest we'll see a $266 million global debut for the latest Guardians of the Galaxy movie, a figure which already takes it to more than half of what Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania earned in its entire run. With a couple of clear weekends before Fast X and The Little Mermaid come along, we can see Vol. 3 holding up well and continuing to exceed expectations.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will see Gunn bid farewell to the MCU to take charge of DC Studios and projects like Creature Commandos and Superman: Legacy. Unsurprisingly, he's made it clear Vol. 4 is off the table.
"As heart-wrenching as it is hilarious," we said in our review earlier this week, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is James Gunn’s masterstroke and a showcase for both his filmmaking talent and a cast that makes everything about this movie simply awesome. An absolute triumph."
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in theaters.