Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Opening Weekend Box Office Numbers Are In

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will open with over $100 million at the box office this weekend, officially kicking off the summer movie season and knocking The Super Mario Bros. Movie out of the top spot on the box office chart. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy's best preview night box office haul with $17.5 million. Despite that, the film will open lower than Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (which opened with $146 million in 2017), though it will break that $100 million mark, which some analysts projected it would not. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will take in $114 million in its first three days. That's better than Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania managed in its opening weekend, even with all of its Kang hype. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is performing well with critics, earning an 81% "Certified Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes and a critics consensus reading, "A galactic group hug that might squeeze a little too tight on the heartstrings, the final Guardians of the Galaxy is a loving last hurrah for the MCU's most ragtag family." It's performing even better with audiences, or at least those that participate in Rotten Tomatoes' audience score rating, which stands at 96% for the film. ComicBook.com's Patrick Cavanaugh awarded Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 4 out of 5 stars in his review of the film. He writes:

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the culmination of everything James Gunn has been building toward with these characters, warts and all. The adventure is the most abjectly emotional, as it goes for the jugular with not only Rocket's story, but the destination that many other characters arrive at, while the filmmaker also manages to put his mark on a studio known for regurgitating formulaic adventures packed with overwhelming sameness. The introduction of arbitrary supporting characters and inconsequential villains is yet another reminder of the Marvel machine, and while there's plenty of side quests and self-aggrandizing, the impact of Rocket's emotional arc is one of the most powerful we've seen in the entire MCU, the inventiveness of action sequences, and a cathartic third act manage to send the trilogy out on a high note."

With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 taking the top spot at the box office, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which has dominated the box office since opening in early April, slides into second place. The full list of the top 10 films at the box office this weekend is in the works.