SUNDAY UPDATE, Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has rocketed to an estimated $282.1M global opening. This beats projections which were cautious given uncertainty in Asian markets, particularly China and Korea. Ultimately, they overperformed at $28.1M and $13.6M, respectively. The international box office weekend was $168.1M in 52 material markets.
The overseas launch is 70% ahead of the first Guardians of the Galaxy and on par with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (which had the benefit of May Day holiday playtime in many markets) on a like-for-like basis. Removing China from the comparison, the opening weekend for the threequel is 98% ahead of GOTG and 13% above GOTG2.
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PREVIOUS, SATURDAY UPDATE: It’s all good news for Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as the threequel is on its way to a $260M+ global debut. Through Friday, it has grossed $119.7M worldwide. Of that, $71.5M is from the international box office. That latter number should grow to $150M+ when Saturday and Sunday are factored.
As we noted yesterday, social is helping drive Star Lord and company. GOTG3 is now out in 52 material markets, and officially bowed in China on Friday. The workday Saturday didn’t hurt the movie too much there; it was 25% up on Friday’s number (currently, and not included in other totals, China is at $16M through Saturday). The weekend could come in at around $25M despite recent meh reactions from local audiences with regard to Hollywood fare. It’s good news.
Also really nice is to see Korea coming back. Through Saturday, the band of guardians have topped $10M (again, Saturday’s number is not included above).
It’s estimated that the first three days overall for GOTG3 overseas are 83% ahead of the first movie in the franchise (+104% excluding China) and 3% above Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (+19% excluding China).
The Top 5 markets through Friday are Korea ($7M), China (6.9M), UK ($6.7M), Mexico ($6.1M) and France ($3.9M).
We’ll have a full update tomorrow.
PREVIOUS, FRIDAY: Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is rocketing off to a strong start at the international box office. Having debuted on Wednesday in such markets as the UK, France, Germany, Korea, Italy and Japan; and then adding Spain, Australia, Brazil and Mexico among others on Thursday, it has grossed an estimated $35M through yesterday in a total 47 material markets.
Social scores are very strong with some of the best notices for the series. Notable in the early mix is Korea which has been slow to rebound. Heading into the Children’s Day holiday today, the threequel has seen daily increases (rare for this market) and is now at $6.8M through Friday (today’s $3.9M is not included in the totals above). The James Gunn-directed film came out of the gate in Korea with high Naver and Egg scores of 9.44 and 98, respectively; those are better than Ant-Man 3, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and both previous Guardians movies. Wednesday also logged the highest non-local opening day of 2023.
What’s more, even the recently finicky China likes the movie. GOTG3 has a 9.4 from audiences on Maoyan — the highest ever for any MCU film released in China. On Douban, it’s got an 8.6 from critics, which is above the previous Guardians installments. The China gross, including previews, is $7M through today (also not reflected in the offshore total above); this is also despite strong local competition. Although tomorrow is a workday in China, we could be looking at an opening session of $25M. That’s not up to pre-pandemic (nor pre-unofficial Marvel boycott) levels, but is encouraging.
Elsewhere, Latin America bowed No. 1 in all markets. Brazil, with $1.3M, had the second biggest launch day of the year and was 15% ahead of GOTG2. In Europe, France‘s $2.5M came with a 4.2 Allociné score, well ahead of GOTG Vol. 2 and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Germany likewise is seeing social reaction above comps.
Excluding any Friday numbers cited above, the Top 5 markets through Thursday are the UK ($3.6M), Mexico ($3.2M), Korea ($2.9M), France ($2.5M) and Japan ($2.5M).
