Box Office Report: Groot x 3

It’s a very Marvel Summer, as it has been for several years now. The franchise has been a dominant figure on every annual box office top ten list for about a decade now. Nobody was expecting the latest addition to the universe, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, to disappoint. Even after a 2023 of superhero movie disappointments, the conclusion to James Gunn’s space scamps trilogy was never going to flop. So, of course it debuted at number one in its opening weekend with $114 million.

That’s the second-best opening of the year so far. Solid. But, of course, you have to dig a little deeper to get to the meat of the issue. The second film made $146.5 million domestically in its opening weekend. As noted by IndieWire, ‘since 2013, Disney has opened their top summer season Marvel release on this date (and also, the last weekend in April twice): Without even having to adjust for inflation, the new “Guardians,” ranks dead last — nine out of nine.’ Ooft. Is superhero fatigue truly hitting now? We’ll see how this one holds on. It’s expected to retain audiences far more than Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania did earlier this year.

Debuting at number six is Love Again, the romantic drama starring Celine Dion and some other people. It didn’t offer much in terms of counterprogramming to the big superhero movie this weekend and only grossed $2.18 million from 2,703 theaters. Of course, it’s no surprise that we didn’t see a ton of competition eager to go up against Guardians Vol. 3. We only saw two indie releases among the margins: The Chilean drama Chile ‘76 ($16,038 from two theaters) and The Melt Goes On Forever — The Art and Times of David Hammons, a documentary about the artist of the same name ($6,250 from one location.)

But Summer is now here, apparently (someone tell the weather in Scotland that), which means more blockbusters, more studio tentpoles, and more hopes for ‘saving movie theatres’ in the aftermath of a tough few years. This month, the big releases are Fast X and the live-action remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. This coming week, audiences can look forward to tech biopic Blackberry and comedy sequel Book Club: The Next Chapter. Hold onto your butts.

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.