Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

For the second weekend drop, Guardians 3 outdid its predecessors. Guardians 1 had a drop rate of 55.34% while Guardians 2 fell by 55.45%, but Guardians 3 only fell by 47.63%. Based on these totals, there was a possibility that Guardians 3 might catch up to Guardians 2 by falling more slowly and eventually overtaking its day-to-day sales.

Third weekend, however, flips the script. Guardians 3 fell by 47.74% to Guardians 1's 40.38% and Guardians 2's 46.90%.

As noted by , all three movies have done phenomenally at word-of-mouth and repeat showings. But Guardians 3 is no longer the clear superior in that category, and its chances of catching up and beating Guardians 2 are shrinking fast.

But it will still probably land in that ballpark. With $62m to Guardians 2's $65m second weekend and $32m to Guardians 2's $35m third weekend, plus a slightly higher international share than Guardians 2 had (59.6% vs. 54.9%), it seems likely that Guardians 3 won't match Guardians 2's $864m but will probably be within $100m or so of it.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 23rd 2023 at 7:26:33 AM

How much did Guardians 3 cost in comparisons? Also, how has it done compared to other third instalment MCU films?

Edited by Silasw on May 23rd 2023 at 10:27:05 AM

Wiki says the budget is 250 million USD. Unlike Ant Man 3 it looks like it was worth that much with the cgi alone.

Guardians 3 had a budget of $250m opposite 2's $200m and 1's $170m.

Compared to other third-installment MCU films?

By opening weekend sales:

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home - $260.1m
2. Captain America: Civil War - $179.1m
3. Iron Man 3 - $174.1m
4. Thor: Ragnarok - $122.7m
5. Guardians 3 - $118.4m
6. Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania - $106.1m

Second weekend drop rate.

1. Guardians 3 - 47.63%
2. Thor: Ragnarok: - 53.50%
3. Iron Man 3 - 58.35%
4. Captain America: Civil War - 59.45%
5. Spider-Man: No Way Home - 67.50%
6. Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania - 69.88%

Second weekend sales:

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home - $84.5m
2. Captain America: Civil War - $72.6m
3. Iron Man 3 - $72.5m
4. Guardians 3 - $62.0m
5. Thor: Ragnarok: - $57.0m
6. Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania - $31.9m

Third weekend drop rate:

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home - 33.74%
2. Guardians 3 - 47.74%
3. Iron Man 3 - 50.68%
4. Captain America: Civil War - 54.65%
5. Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania - 59.92%
6. Thor: Ragnarok - 62.04%

Third weekend sales:

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home - $56.0m
2. Iron Man 3 - $35.8m
3. Captain America: Civil War - $32.9m
4. Guardians 3 - $32.4m
5. Thor: Ragnarok - $21.7m
6. Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania - $12.8m

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 23rd 2023 at 3:16:22 AM

You have to wonder what lessons Disney and Marvel will take from Antman and the Wasp Quantamania doing so poorly.

"Jeff Loveness is not the guy to drive the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe," seems to be their key takeaway, given that he's been fired from Kang Dynasty.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 23rd 2023 at 3:22:47 AM

I have to say blaming the writer alone seems... wrong to me. He deserves blame but so does the director and producers, it seems unfair that Jeff Loveness' is often getting the blame due to Quantumanina failing but I haven't seen anyone online also give any blame to Peyton Reed or the producers. Though maybe people are and I just haven't seen it.

Credit I say this as someone who sees the film as just fine. It's something that seems weird to me.

Edited by Bullman on May 23rd 2023 at 10:18:22 AM

Don't hire Rick and Morty writers /s

I really do wonder if we will ever see the Guardians beyond Star Lord again.

The director and i assume some of the producers were there for the successful first two films. The writer was the new element. Not very fair I agree since I assume a lot of elements were handed down from on high but still probably why they are catching flack.

I do hope we see the new Guardian team more than the New Avengers but I'm not holding my breath.

The film hasn't been released on any official streaming platform or physical media, and that shot is a fairly significant spoiler which did not appear in any trailer. So a camrip is the only remaining option for how that picture can exist.

Edited by TobiasDrake on May 23rd 2023 at 5:34:26 AM

It's unfortunate but films are where writers have the least amount of power, it's more of a director and producer environment. A writer might be able to influence the dialogue but much of the plot and story beats will be out of their hands.

I think Quantumania may have been the first major casualty of both the post-Endgame revamp and Phase 4 decentralizing their narrative. It's not difficult to see the movie as more about trying to sell Kang to the audience rather than really being about the established Ant Man cast. Other films like Eternals, Black Widow and Guardians 3 are either about starting something new or wrapping up that story, while the Spider-Man films have been largely standalone and not trying to fit into the MCU narrative.

I saw the movie over the weekend and I loved it. Made me cry several times.

Really well-written and imaginative (i.e. the corporate goons in tardigrade-armor, among many other things).

Adam Warlock is a kind of character I really like - a creature with human form who initially lacks humanity but develops it over time.

And the movie definitely confirmed my pre-watch sense that the High Evolutionary was a very faithful take on Doctor Moreau.

I know it's kind of unfair, but it's hard for me not to compare other properties to the movie and find them wanting.

Perhaps most obviously, Love and Thunder has a similarly wacky tone and has a similar plot thread of a character ending up as a dad, but does all these things much less effectively.

And while I realize they have differences in characterization, I'm questioning whether Eros and Adam Warlock can co-exist. Not sure you can have more than one pretty boy space pirate. I did like what little we saw if Eros. But I find Adam a much more entertaining character.

Edited by Hodor2 on May 23rd 2023 at 8:35:28 AM

Its super cheesy but when Nebula says the thing to Drax at the end, it really made me well up. Like, this movie did that in general, but thats the one I wasn't expecting.

Sarofsky, the production art house responsible for designing the title sequences for all of the Guardians entries, officially uploaded the first 4 minutes of Vol. 3 on their portfolio website.

So yeah. Finally saw it. I'm a huge fan of the series (I can give my bonafides if someone asks) and this might've been the best one yet?

First, the bad:

• I didn't really care for the music as much as previous movies. It felt less cohesive and the songs themselves I either didn't notice or I found distracting (even if I liked them). This is the first Awesome Mix I won't buy. Still didn't dislike it or anything, but either the music or its implementation wasn't as good, I can't tell.
• While I like where he wound up, I found Drax's journey to be... jarring. I wish he didn't randomly know the kids' language to make him useful. It came from nowhere and felt too convenient.
• ... what happened to the Hellspawn? They swarmed Knowhere in ridiculous numbers and then just... seemed to disappear. Kraglin took down a few dozen but it seemed like thousands were swarming.
• I didn't care for the mid-credits scene being stopping (and presumably killing) what seemed like wild animals just... doing their thing.

Now, the things I liked:

• Everyone lived and how it happened. I went into the movie assuming someone would die, and I didn't feel "cheated" that people lived. In fact, I was really worried about it, because I felt like if someone died for the sake of saving Rocket it would feel like trading lives, and would also take away Rocket's agency. Everyone surviving felt earned.
• As a corollary, I liked that there was a major theme of saving people. Stopping the HE was important because he was hurting people, not because of punishment.
• I liked Adam Warlock. Which was honestly unexpected.
• Peter briefly entertaining the thought of hitting on Nebula was hilarious, pathetic, a sign of Nebula's character growth, and a catalyst for his character growth. It was really economical storytelling for a fairly quick gag.
• The Orgo Scope was great for reminding me that yes, movies can still show me something new and wholly unexpected. I didn't necessarily like it (in the sense it was supposed to be unpleasant) but I liked that I didn't like it.
• While I don't think Infinity War Quill was quite as bad as others, I liked seeing him more in his element where he can carry a conversation and still professionally handle his job.
• I think this is my favorite incarnation of Groot yet.
• Cosmo is a good dog.
• Just assume anything I didn't list as something that bugged me as something I liked.

Edited by Larkmarn on May 24th 2023 at 12:03:27 PM

I'm just glad Adam is finally in the MCU,I think they had been teasing him for like in the two previous guardian movies..I think

Hmmm yes actually

His cocoon was in the Collector’s collection. Just an Easter egg there, it turns out

But he was directly teased at the end of Guardians 2

I like how when that plot gun is finally fired, it’s in the context of showing why Ayesha is having an emotional breakdown over the Guardians constantly making fools of the Sovereign

With such a strict creator like the HE, you don’t want to look like a failure. At least until he revealed he made a planet of himbos just for Aesthetic and probably had no high expectations for them at all until Rocket crossed their path

One wonders how many galactic species Hugh Evo created

The high number of Human Aliens, Green-Skinned Space Babes, and Rubber-Forehead Aliens is because The High Evolutionary made them all.

I noticed that on forums people call the High Evolutionary either HE or THE, both being super common English words.

Some fun behind the scenes material from Nebula herself, Karen Gillan.

Finally got around to watching this.

Man, this has gotta be the best MCU film in... a while? It's just a really solid film and shows just how much love and care James Gunn has in these characters and world he's created. It's nice to see some critiques from some of the previous films have been addressed a bit here: Quill's a more level-headed leader (if still dealing with his depression), and the moments of humor to drama are balanced a lot better here. The film is a lot more serious, but it works to its advantage because there's so much investment in the characters by this point. I honestly got a bit teary-eyed watching parts of this, which has only happened a few times over the course of the MCU.

I'm not sure if I have any major complaints. Everyone mostly got a fair amount of screentime, and I thought the High-Evolutionary was a wonderful despicable villain. If I have a few complaints, I do feel like it runs a bit long at points, but it's not entirely detrimental. Adam Warlock didn't necessarily feel shoe-horned into the plot, but I did get the feeling he could be written out fairly easily if need be. And while it's great to see the High-Evolutionary get his ass kicked and his face peeled off, I feel like his defeat was a bit rushed. I honestly thought he was left for dead at first (which kind of contrasted with why Rocket spared him to begin with), but nope, apparently Drax did carry him out. It's a blink-or-you'll-miss-it detail that honestly should've been drawn together more.

I also appreciated how Quill and Gamora don't end up together by the end of the film. It's something I was hoping they'd do with the two once they brought Gamora back in Endgame, since putting them back together would seem like a Replacement Goldfish type deal. But the film acknowledges that this Gamora is not the one Peter knew and fell in love with, and they part on reasonably good terms.

Honestly, this film has given me a lot of hope in the upcoming DC films Gunn is set to helm, since his work the past few years have generally been solid all around. Sorry if it seems like I'm gushing a bit, but seeing this a couple of weeks after watching Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania really shows the highs-and-lows the series can still bring.

The High Evolutionary's survival and incarceration is no longer just Word of God, thanks to the release of this deleted scene: