Marvel Studio's "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3" has had a successful opening weekend, raking in $114 million at the domestic box office and $168.1 million from international markets. The film's global haul is currently at $282.1 million during its first three days in theaters. Despite falling a little under expectations, the film has still contributed to Marvel Cinematic Universe's dominance in the box office, with half of the dozen movies that have opened to more than $100 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada since the start of the Covid pandemic being MCU films.
Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com, notes that the film acts more as an epilogue for a number of popular Marvel characters and less of a table-setter for future stories within the Marvel universe. However, the film's positive early audience reactions suggest that its box office legs could stretch out in the weeks ahead and bring back some of Marvel's casual audience that have opted to wait for word of mouth.
The release of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" marks the end of James Gunn's time with Marvel and the start of his reign at DC Studios, where he will be working alongside producer Peter Safran to bring fresh takes on Superman, Batman and even Swamp Thing to the big screen.
Overall, "Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3" has had a successful opening weekend, contributing to Marvel's dominance in the box office and setting the stage for what could be a blockbuster-filled May-through-Labor-Day period with ticket sales potentially topping pre-pandemic levels.