Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 blasts off with $145M debut
NEW YORK — “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” rocketed to an estimated $145 million debut in North America, kicking off Hollywood’s summer movie season with something the movie business has been craving: a sequel more successful than the original.
Director James Gunn’s second “Guardians” film opened 54 per cent higher than the 2014 runaway hit, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That release, which introduced the intergalactic band of misfits played by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper, debuted with $94 million in its first weekend.
Once a little-known, oddball property in Marvel’s vault, the “Guardians of the Galaxy” have grown into one of the comic-book factory’s biggest brands.
The opening for “Guardians Vol. 2,” made for about $200 million, is the second largest of the year, following Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” ($174.8 million). But it also turns back the tide of underperforming sequels, a developing scourge to Hollywood.
But whether “Guardians” can turn the tide for summer sequels will be a much-followed story line as the season progresses. The bottom line of just about every studio depends on it. On the horizon are big-budget sequels like “Alien: Covenant,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Cars 3,” “Transformers: The Last Knight,” “Despicable Me 3” and “War for the Planet of the Apes.”
Fearing the might of “Guardians,” no other major studio releases debuted over the weekend. The gap between first and second at the box office was immense. “The Fate of the Furious” came in at no. 2 with $8.5 million in its fourth weekend.