Guardians of the Galaxy's Opening Day Box Office is Almost $38 Million

Guardians of the Galaxy opened in U.S. theaters yesterday with between $37.8 and $37.95 million, depending on whether you're asking exhibitors or Disney.

Either way, the film is on pace to generate between $92 and $95 million, assuming it keeps up the tempo. Whether it will or not is difficult to say, since the $11 million on Thursday is counted into the Friday numbers and those, obviously, were the most enthusiastic fans who rushed out to see it as soon as possible.

Either way, it's in a position to blow away the initial $70 million projections that it had going into the weekends -- and if it hits more than $90 million, it will be statistically neck and neck with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was not only considered a huge success for Marvel Studios but was a sequel to a well-received first film with an Avengers bump. That film opened just over $95 million back in April.