The summer movie season officially kicks off this weekend with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and it’s looking to dominate the weekend box office in a big way.
Even though Guardians 2’s opening weekend number won’t topple the all-time May record set by Marvel’s The Avengers ($207.4M), what’s impressive is that the comic-book label proves again that most superhero sequels can top their predecessors’ openings — in the case of Guardians 2, its three-day will blast beyong the first movie’s $94.3M opening by at least 59%. Should GOTG2 hit the high end of its estimates, it will rank as the 11th-best opening ever at the domestic box office, and the fifth best for May after Avengers, Avengers: Age Of Ultron ($191.3M), Captain America: Civil War ($179.1M), and Iron Man 3 ($174.1M).
GOTG2 has a lot of steam behind it. After Hollywood journalists were given a tour of the Marvel offices in Burbank two weeks ago, along with a screening of the film, the film now sits on Rotten Tomatoes with an 86% certified fresh score, which isn’t that far from the 2014’s 91% fresh rating. Marvel knows it needs critics on their side for a long-legged superhero summer success, something that the recent DC offerings have failed to do.
The film grossed $106 million over the weekend in foreign territories so it’s already off to a great start. Tracking has this coming in at about $150 million for the weekend but I’m going to go higher with about $170 million and I expect great legs as it should dominate most of May before the arrival of Baywatch & the fifth Pirates movie.
Check back Monday for the final box office grosses!