Could Guardians of the Galaxy Pass Iron Man at the U.S. Box Office?

While the Marvel Cinematic Universe is often discussed as getting an "Avengers bump" -- that is, that every movie after The Avengers has done better than the previous installment in its franchise, in part because of the massive success and broad appeal of The Avengers -- one film has remained near the top of their all-time list: Iron Man.

The first movie in Marvel's cinematic universe earned $318 million domestically, giving it third place in the studio's history behind Marvel's The Avengers and Iron Man 3. Currently in fourth place is Iron Man 2, followed by Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which Guardians of the Galaxy is expected to surpass in the next few days.

Iron Man 2 earned $312 million during its run, just less than $318 million for Iron Man, but here's what's interesting: through 24 days at the domestic box office, Guardians of the Galaxy has earned $251,884,000 in the U.S., compared to $252,614,669 during that same period for Iron Man. That's a difference of less than $750,000. 

With great word of mouth and an enthusiastic, engaged fan base, Guardians of the Galaxy could easily continue on the same pace...and given the time of year -- with not many major new releases expected along between now and The Hunger Games to chew up a lot of screens -- it's possible that it could have a significant theatrical presence for a few weeks longer than did Iron Man, which opened in April and so had to contend with summer blockbuster season at the tail end of its run. Guardians launched during, and dominated, the tail end of summer blockbuster season and will head into the tail end of its run in September and October.

Since most people are considering The Avengers a sequel (because of the way the previous films built to it), surpassing Iron Man would make the film -- once expected to be a modest hit at best -- the biggest starting point for any franchise in Marvel's short history and the third-highest-grossing film overall behind The Avengers and Iron Man 3.