Guardians a box office Marvel
LOS ANGELES — The ill-tempered raccoon Rocket and his fellow misfits kicked off Hollywood’s crucial summer season over the weekend with a predictably brawny $146.5 million in domestic ticket sales.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, directed by James Gunn, cost roughly $350 million to make and market. But it was an easy check to write: The first film, released in 2014, took in $773 million worldwide. Since then, Disney has thrown its full weight behind the once-minor Marvel characters, even foisting them on Disneyland Resort guests.
So the question with the sequel was one of scale: Would ticket sales be truly eye popping or merely terrific?
Sequels are designed to draw bigger opening-weekend crowds than their franchise predecessors, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 accomplished that mission by a mile. The first movie had $94 million in initial sales, according to comScore, which compiles box office data.
But turnout for Gunn’s follow-up was a bit less than some Hollywood trade news outlets had predicted. Based on comScore data, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 appeared to be the eighth biggest May arrival on record, after adjusting for inflation.
Overseas, the Guardians’ new adventure has taken in an additional $282.6 million after two weeks of scattered release. The movie received strong overall reviews, and audiences gave it an A grade in CinemaScore exit polls, boding well for word-of-mouth.
For the weekend, The Fate of the Furious (Universal) was second at the North American box office, taking in about $8.6 million, for a four-week domestic total of $207 million ($1.16 billion worldwide).
Landing in third place was 20th Century Fox’s The Boss Baby, which coughed up about $6 million in its sixth week. The animated picture has grossed $156.5 million domestically.
In fourth place is Lionsgate’s How to Be a Latin Lover, which had a $5.1 million take in its second week. It has pulled in $20.5 million to date.
Beauty and the Beast, with $5 million, landed in fifth place. The live-action tale has brought in about $488 million domestically with a worldwide gross at $1.2 billion, making it the 11th highest-grossing movie of all time.
On the limited-release front, Weinstein Co.’s longdelayed Three Generations opened to a poor $20,000 from six locations. Formerly titled About Ray, the film follows a mother (Naomi Watts) and grandmother (Susan Sarandon) as they grapple with their teen’s decision to begin a medical transition from female to male. Originally set to debut just days after its Toronto International Film Festival premiere two years ago, the movie was pulled following controversy surrounding its casting of Elle Fanning as the main character. The picture has a 33 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating and will expand this week.
Going up against Guardians this week will be Warner Bros.’ King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Fox’s Amy Schumer-Goldie Hawn comedy Snatched. In limited release will be Lowriders, starring Demian Bichir, Eva Longoria and Gabriel Chavarria.